Invincible
by Britttt
Summary: Violetta McKinnon has problems; her past is full of guilt and regret, and her bad attitude causes her loads of trouble. And then there's Sirius Black, who's intent on making her life hell. As tensions run high with the threat of war, Letta will need to face all kinds of demons in order to survive her seventh year. What will happen to the girl who thinks she is invincible?
1. Troublemaker

**Hello, everyone! I just have a slight disclaimer before you begin reading; this story is one of my originals, and I have posted it on TWO fanfiction sites. So if any of you are on (harry)(potter)(fanfiction).com, you may see this story floating around. I did NOT steal this story or idea. If you want to check out my profile on the other site, my username is The Black Lioness . I have also posted a disclaimer on that profile.**

**ALSO, I just want to warn you all that I began writing this story a few years ago, so the first few chapters aren't that great haha. I promise that although the story seems predictable right now, it WILL get better. Give it a chance, pretty please? :)**

**Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews. Enjoy!**

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There was a loud clatter as a huge tawny owl landed beside my cereal bowl, making the spoon jump loudly. I sighed as everyone within the vicinity stopped to stare excitedly at the smoking red letter tucked in its beak. The owl dropped the letter before me and took off into the sky; I knew it was going back to my Aunt Mina's tiny cottage where we lived alone during the summers.

I looped a purple coil of hair around my finger and pulled, watching uninterested as it sprung back into place the moment it was free. Lily Evans and Willow Addams sat on either side of me, watching warily; they knew my game well. When I'd first gotten a howler, back in first year, I had torn it open right away. But over the years I'd learned to control myself, timing how long it would take before the envelope burst into flames and Aunt Mina's voice would fill the hall.

_60 seconds_, I counted silently. It was customary that I would get a howler at the beginning of the year, due to my, ah, usual antics. But I knew no one suspected I would get one the first day back to classes. Most of them were probably wondering, _what has she done this time?_ Lily and Lo knew well enough. This would be about the train ride, of course.

_80 seconds._ I smirked slightly; everyone had now stopped to stare at either me or the howler and the first years were looking around wildly, obviously wondering what was going on. Well, they'd learn about my reputation soon enough.

_120 seconds._ Wow, it lasted a while this time. It had started smoking and was becoming painfully hot. Normally it would have already –

"VIOLETTA ISABELLE MCKINNON!" _Exploded._ "CAN'T YOU HAVE WAITED AT LEAST A WEEK BEFORE YOU STARTED THIS RUBBISH? YOU WERE GONE THREE HOURS AND I ALREADY GOT AN OWL SAYING YOU'VE STARTED MUGGLE DUELING ON THE TRAIN!" I pointedly looked over at Sirius Black, who was sporting a fat lip, and waved cheerily. "WHAT WOULD YOUR MOTHER THINK?"

The smile slid right off my face like Stink-Sap and I willed my hair to stay its regular shade, including the bright purple highlights. So it was going to be like that, was it?

See, I was a Metamorphmagus; I could change my appearance at will whenever I wanted to. I usually wore my hair in bright colors every day. Sometimes I kept my hair its usual chocolate brown and just added different colored highlights, like today. But when I got angry, which was about ninety percent of the time, my hair would turn bright red and my normally golden eyes would turn flat black. It was quite a scary sight. And right now? I was bloody furious.

I had been very close with my father before the incident, mostly because we'd been so much alike. I couldn't really say the same thing about my mother. My dad was a funny guy, always tinkering around with muggle things and putting them around the house. Dad had always encouraged me to just be myself and never let anyone get in the way of who I wanted to be. My mother, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Everything had to be in its proper place and I always had to practice good manners. My mother liked to have neatness and order at all times. She could never just accept me; she was always forcing me to wear the pretty dresses she bought me and put my hair its "correct color."

Then one night, Death Eaters had come looking for my father. He'd worked at the ministry as an Unspeakable, so whatever information he knew was pretty important. My mum and I hadn't been home at the time, so they settled for just murdering him.

_Stop_, I told myself firmly. _You can't think about this now._ I tried to ignore what Aunt Mina had said, but it was hard not to think about the fight. I can't even remember what it was about; I just knew that I was fed up with my mother always telling me that I wasn't good enough, that I wasn't perfect enough to be her daughter. We were fighting and screaming and – _no._ I won't go there. Not now. I had to keep my composure. People were watching; time to put on a show.

I suddenly realized that Aunt Mina's voice had finally shut up. Glancing down at the table, I saw that the envelope had smoldered into ashes. Suddenly, there was noise. James Potter had stood up and started clapping, probably hoping to embarrass me on his best mates behalf. But he already knew that Letta Mckinnon doesn't get embarrassed. I heard Lily start to giggle, but she caught herself just in time. Of course, she wouldn't want to be seen laughing at something that _Potter_ had done. She was ridiculous. One of my best friends, but still ridiculous.

The whole Gryffindor table started to applaud now and finally the whole hall broke into laughter, minus the Slytherins.

"Way to go, Letta!" called one boy at the Hufflepuff table.

"That's a new record!" said a second year girl from Ravenclaw.

I stood up grinning and bowed at each of the four tables. My newly altered skirt rose a bit as I twirled around and sauntered out of the Great Hall, my dozens of necklaces, rings and bracelets jingling.

I heard Remus speak to Sirius in a loud voice over the noise of the Great Hall. "You've got to admit...the girl's got style." I just smirked some more, waving at Sirius's sulking face on my way out the door.

"Letta!" Willow and Lily followed me into the entrance hall, both laughing hysterically. "You're going to be in so much trouble with your aunt." Lo wiped her eyes, still giggling.

"I know," I said with a smile. It wasn't like I cared.

"Oi, Evans!" A voice cried from the double doors that led into the Great Hall.

"Oh, Merlin," Lily groaned, covering her face with her hands. "Doesn't that boy ever quit?" James Potter strode up to us with his best mates right behind him. The Marauders, they called themselves. They were the most popular blokes in school; James Potter, who was captain of the Quidditch team and actually quite funny; Peter Pettigrew, who was a tag-along and looked like a rat; Remus Lupin who was the nicest of the lot and really smart; and then the devil himself, Sirius Black. Merlin, I hated that boy.

Sirius and I had hated each other since first year. We'd met on the train and instantly disliked each other. It wasn't the deep rooted hate we both felt now – that hadn't started until third year – but we were definitely not friends. He'd turned my hair into stretchy goo, so it was only fair that I made his hair pink. And put him in a dress. And took pictures. But that's beside the point. We really started getting into fights when my dad died. I became closed off to everyone but Lily and Lo because of what was happening with my mother. Honestly, I became quite a bitch. I was always kind of mean, but this really took the cake. I calmed down a bit over the years, but my reputation as a troublemaking ice bitch got around school.

I met Lily and Lo the same way, minus the fighting and hexes. We were on the train in first year and some sixth years had been bullying Lo. I kicked the three boys who were being obnoxious, since they were so much taller than me and I couldn't punch them in the face. Lo and I looked for a compartment together and that's where we found Lily, the only girl in a compartment full of the Marauders and Severus Snape. When me and Lo walked in, Snape stormed out and left Lily alone, obviously furious with the other boys. Together, Lily, Lo and I stood against the Marauders the entire train ride to Hogwarts and became best friends.

Lily Evans was gorgeous, and I think every girl in the school was jealous of her at one point or another. With shoulder length, dark red hair, emerald green eyes and the perfect body, every boy in the school drooled after her; although, no one drooled more than James Potter. Lily was always the model student; she never broke the rules and did everything the teachers told us to do, not to mention she was bloody brilliant. It was no wonder she became Head Girl. Unfortunately, her stalker was Head Boy. She wasn't happy about spending time alone with James Potter during patrols.

Willow Addams was always the peacemaker. She never spoke bad about anyone and always gave people a fair chance. Not only did she act sweet, but Lo looked like a perfect angel. She had always been very small and petite, barely five foot two. She had long, wavy hair that was a bright golden color. Her eyes were like sapphires and she had beautiful porcelain skin. If it weren't for the fact that she was so nice, everyone would hate her because of her good looks.  
I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't met Lily and Lo on my first train ride to Hogwarts. They were my absolute best friends, and pretty much the only family I had left. Our friendship started at the same time my hatred of Black began.

Black thought he was so great, strutting round the castle with his friends as if they owned the place. He was the most popular boy in Hogwarts dating-wise. Almost every girl wanted him, and he wanted every girl. They all thought he was _so_ charming and good-looking. That didn't make him any less of a prat, though.

Him and his friends were the most popular boys in the school. Everyone loved them because they were so smart and talented - even I had to admit, they were damn good at _everything_, including getting in trouble. James Potter was like Black's brother, even though they weren't technically related. It was rumored that Black ran away from home and was now living at the Potter's. James was always bugging Black about hanging out with us because he wanted to be closer to Lily. She liked him – she just didn't know it yet.

James came hurrying after Lily, the object of his desire since second year, ruffling his hair and making it more untidy than it already was.

"What classes do you have?" he asked excitedly when he reached her. Lily grudgingly held out her schedule, which was identical to Lo's and mine. "Excellent," he grinned, "you have all the same classes as us."

"_Us_?" I repeated, scrunching up my face in disgust when I looked at Black.

"Don't lie, McKinnon, you're excited to see me everyday," he said. "And I wouldn't make that face if I were you. It makes you look like a hag taking the mickey."

"At least my normal face doesn't look like a rat's arse," I said coolly. "But I'm sure Rachel doesn't mind, the only thing she's interested in is your – "

"That's enough, Letta," sighed Lily. Rachel Bruin was the biggest hoe bag I'd ever met, and unfortunately she lived in our dorm. None of the girls liked her, especially me. The fact that she was Black's "fun buddy" made it even worse.

"Jealous, Mckinnon?" Black grinned. "I knew it. You want me."

"Despite what you may think, Black," I said through gritted teeth, "not every girl wants you. Not respectable girls, anyway."

He laughed. "You think _you're_ respectable? The only respectable thing about you are your friends. Honestly, I don't know how you two put up with this – "

"Shut your mouth, Black," I hissed. "Actually, no. I'll shut it for you. _Tongtortus_!" I shouted, aiming my wand at Black's mouth. His tongue suddenly swelled until it was three times its normal size. It hung out of his mouth like a huge, slimy worm.

"_Waddiwasi_!" Black shouted, except it came out sounding muffled and distorted. The spell still worked, but it wasn't as effective. I was supposed to be thrown into the air, but instead I was lifted up a few feet and dropped on my arse.

"Ow!" I screeched, pointing my wand at his, ah, man parts. "_Reducio_!" That would have been a laugh if Remus hadn't cast a shield charm just in the nick of time.

"Lets not go there, Letta," he said, trying to hide a smile.

"What is going on here?" Damn. Professor McGonagall marched her way over to us, scowling. "Miss Mckinnon, what on earth have you done to Mr. Black?"

"Gave him what he deserved," I said easily. "He hexed me, too."

"Adder oo urd me!" Somehow, the Professor understood what he was saying.

"After you cursed him? I have had enough of this! You two are seventh years now, I will not have you sending each other to the hospital wing all term!" Professor McGonagall pointed her wand at Black and muttered the countercurse for his tongue. "You are supposed to be setting an example for the younger students. Ten points from Gryffindor _each_. And both of you will receive three Saturday detentions, starting this week. We'll see if you can't sort out your issues by scrubbing the trophy room!" Then she stormed off towards her office.

"Saturday detentions?" I could practically feel my hair turning red. "On the first day?"

"You started it," whined Black like a five year old.

I was about to answer when Lily pulled on my arm hard. "Let's get to class, Letta. You're in enough trouble already."

"When is she _not_ in trouble?" I heard Lo mutter. Then she spoke up, talking mainly to Remus. "We'll see you later, guys."

"Bye, Lo," Remus grinned. Both of them were a bit red in the face when we walked off towards Charms.

"Is something going on there?" I asked, nudging her with my elbow.

"No," said Lo, blushing again. "We're just...friends."

"Friends, huh?" Lily giggled. "Is that all?"

"Shut up." Willow sighed and lead us into the classroom where Professor Flitwick was writing on the board with his wand. We sat at our desks in the middle of the room with these two obnoxious girls in front of us. One of them was Rachel Bruin and of course she was talking about Black.

"Sirius is _so_ hot," she giggled to her best and equally slutty friend, Tara Marshall. Tara had the potential to be pretty if she didn't cake on so much makeup. Rachel, on the other hand, was gross. She always looked like she was asking for it, which she probably was. "He's in love with me, you know," Rachel continued talking. "I can feel it. And I love him, too."

I know I probably shouldn't have gotten involved, but when have I ever kept my opinion to myself? Never. "Black?" I snorted. "You think _Black_, of all people, loves you? Damn, Rachel, you're even thicker than I thought. That, or completely psycho."

"Who asked _you_, slag?" sneered Rachel, turning around in her seat to face me. Tara looked a bit frightened. Good; fear is a powerful emotion. "Look at your hair. It's a disgrace to girls everywhere. Besides, you're just jealous that Sirius spends all his time with me."

"Jealous? What a joke," I laughed. "At least I don't go around claiming to love the Devil himself. We all know Black is incapable of loving any of the girls he fools around with. It's programmed in his tiny brain to touch 'em, then toss 'em."

"You're one to talk, Ice Bitch!" Rachel's voice went up an octave.

I stood up, my now red hair falling into my face. "You are the shallowest person I've ever met," I hissed menacingly. "If you actually think Black loves you, then by all means, keep hanging round with him in broom closets. I don't care one bit about you or your feelings. But when he gets tired of you, don't cry in the dormitory like nobody warned you. And trust me, you _will_ cry, because there is absolutely nothing special about you to keep him around, Bruin." I sat back down in a huff, with the whole classroom now staring at me.

"You bi – " Rachel started to say, but I cut her off with a snarl. Yes, a snarl.

"Say another word and I'll hack your pretty nose to bits," I threatened, pulling out my wand.

"Miss McKinnon!" Professor Flitwick squeaked, hurrying over to where I sat. "That is not how we behave in a classroom, and we certainly do not threaten other students with violence! That will be ten points from Gryffindor."

"Letta," scolded Lily after Flitwick had gone back to his desk, "knock it off! It's only the first day back. You have the whole year to annoy Rachel, would you give it a rest?"

"Sorry," I mumbled, changing my hair back to its normal brown with purple streaks. "It's all Black's fault. If he hadn't started with me this morning, I wouldn't be in such a foul mood." I scowled at my friends, who just shook their heads at me. I actually get that a lot.


	2. Detention

The first week back passed by in a boring blur. Black and I bickered at breakfast, lunch, dinner and sometimes in the common room, but we didn't spend time together more than necessary. I mostly hung out with the Marauders because Lo was "friends" (wink, wink) with Remus, and she was on pretty good terms with James. Much to mine and Lily's disappointment, we were dragged to these get-togethers as well. Other than that, everything was pretty normal at Hogwarts. Until Lily reminded me of my detention on Saturday evening.

"Letta, don't you have detention with McGonagall?" she asked pointedly.

"Shit," I muttered. I glanced at the clock above the fireplace in the common room where we were sitting doing homework. It was seven fifty five; I had exactly five minutes to get to Professor McGonagall's office. "I'll see you later." I waved to my friends, climbed through the portrait hole and strolled down the hall at a leisurely pace. So I'd be a couple minutes late – big deal.

When I reached the Professor's office, she was waiting behind her desk with perfect posture, as always. My mother would have been proud.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor," I said.

"Nevermind that," answered McGonagall briskly. "Where is Mr. Black?"

I snorted. "How should I know? I'm not his keeper."

"Watch your tone, Miss McKinnon," she warned. I fiddled with the ends of my hair as we waited in silence; it was a bright, electric blue today and I must say, I loved that color on me. Fifteen minutes went by before Black finally decided to grace us with his presence. He had pink lipstick marks all over his jaw and neck, and he looked a bit disheveled.

"Sorry I'm late, Minnie," he grinned, "I had some business to take care of."

"You're just wasting your own time, Black," said McGonagall. "You two are going to scrub out the trophy room – without magic. I don't care how long it takes. Grab a bucket and a sponge, and follow me."

It was a quiet walk to the trophy room and when we got there, I realized I'd never noticed just how many plaques, medals and trophies there were. Not to mention all the glass cases they were stored in.

"Professor," said Black quickly, "do we have to clean _all_ of this?"

"Yes. Everything in this room must be spotless when I come back to check on you." Professor McGonagall looked at us both sharply. "I hope this will teach you not to duel in the hallways. This fighting has to stop, and it will." She left us alone with a bucket full of water, two sponges and a bottle full of Magical Mess Remover.  
"Alright, McKinnon," sighed Black, "get to work. I'm no good at muggle cleaning."

I clenched my jaw against the profanities I wanted to call him. "I don't think so, Black. I'm not doing this all by myself. You're helping me." I held the yellow sponge up to his face. "Do you know what this is?"

He rolled his eyes. "Hilarious. I'll take this half of the room and you take the other half."

"Fine." I dipped my sponge into the soapy water and got to work.

It was quiet for a while as we polished the various ornaments in the large, echoing room. I dunked my sponge into the bucket for what felt like the millionth time, and was on my way back to the case I was working on when it happened. I had swung my sponge around as I turned and sprayed soapy water right into Black's face.  
"There's soap in my eye!" he yelled, rubbing his face with the heels of his hands. I couldn't help but laugh at him – what a baby. "Think that's funny, do you, McKinnon?"

"No," I smirked, "I think it's hysterical."

Before I could laugh again, Black held up his sopping sponge and aimed for my head. I backed up, forgetting the bucket was right behind me, and tripped. My butt went right into the opening of the pail and I was soaked through my skirt and robes. I cursed Black under my breath and tried to get up, but my arse was stuck!  
"_Black!_" I screeched. "Get me out of here!" He was doubled over laughing, his face turning red from lack of oxygen.

"No," he managed between snickers, "I think I'll watch you get up by yourself."

"This is all your fault!" I yelled.

"My fault?" he said incredulously. "It's not my fault you don't watch where you're going!"

I heaved my body up, using the edges of the bucket to support my hands on. Soon enough, my butt was free. As soon as I stood up, I launched myself at Black.  
My fist collided with his jaw and sent him reeling backwards. I hadn't even noticed that we'd both taken out our wands. Just as I tackled him onto the floor and was about to hex him into oblivion, he rolled to the side so he had me pinned to the ground. My wand fell out of my hand and Black picked it up.

"Let's see," he grinned, "how much damage could I do to McKinnon with _two_ wands?"

I laughed, which was a bit difficult since he had both wands pressed against my throat. "What's the matter, Black? Scared I'll beat you in a duel?" His face fell immediately. "You're a coward. Just like the rest of your disgusting family." I didn't actually know much about his family, besides the fact that they had all been sorted into Slytherin except for him.

"Get up," he commanded, rolling off of me and onto his feet. He threw my wand at me and scowled. "You want to duel? Let's duel. _Confringo!_"  
I jumped out of the way just in time, but the spell caught the hem of my robes and they burst into flames. I put the small fire out hurriedly and pointed my wand at Black.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" He ducked the spell and it hit the glass cabinet behind him, which shattered.

"_Waddiwasi!_" he bellowed, and I was thrown backwards into another cabinet. Glass, medals and trophies rained down on me, and I felt the sting of a cut on my arm, along with the stickniness of blood.

"_Furnunculus!_" Black's face was immediately covered in boils. But before he could point his wand at me again, Professor McGonagall walked into the room.

"BLACK! MCKINNON!" she shrieked, almost beside herself with fury. "Look at this – _never_, in all my years at Hogwarts – how dare you – " She could barely complete any of her sentences. "Fifty points from Gryffindor each, and a month's detention, three times a week! You two will clean this mess up _now_. I cannot believe you are exhibiting such behavior! Apparently I have to babysit two seventeen year olds all night..." She yelled herself hoarse before she instructed us to repair the trophy room. It took hours to get everything exactly how it was before we'd destroyed it and I was nearly dead on my feet before she finally let us go back to Gryffindor tower.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"This is all your fault," muttered Black. We were climbing through the portrait hole into the common room after our torturous detention. Unfortunately, the boils had been removed from his face by McGonagall, but I'd forgotten all about the cut on my arm, so I hadn't shown it to her. It didn't hurt anyway.

"My fault?!" I repeated incredulously. "You started it!" We both made our way over to our friends, who were sitting together by the fire.

"Here we go," sighed Remus.

"It was so peaceful in here, too." Lily frowned.

"This git started his nonsense again and got me detention for a _month!_" I said indignantly.

"It's not like you have a life, McKinnon," scoffed Black. "Quidditch is starting soon! I've got to focus on training. I can't be running off to detention three times a week."

"You should have thought of that before you started your crap," I snarled.

"Maybe if you weren't such a righteous bitch all the time, I wouldn't have to," he retorted.

"I'm only bitchy to you because you're a prat!" I exclaimed, my hair turning red. Again.

"Come off it, McKinnon, you're like that to everyone," sneered Black. "It's no wonder everyone calls you the Ice Queen."

This didn't hurt my feelings, like it was obviously supposed to; nothing ever hurt my feelings. I laughed in his face. "Sod off, you ignorant wanker. Unlike you, I take pride in who I am. Look at where you came from – the House of Black really messed you up in the head, didn't it?"

Black's face darkened immediately. It was probably a bit too much, but I carried on anyway. "What's the matter?" I said in a mock baby voice. "Dear old Mummy doesn't want you anymore?" Like I said before, I didn't really know anything about Black's family, but I seemed to have touched a nerve. _Good,_ I thought happily, _my work here is done._

"Letta," said Remus sharply, watching his friend's face.

"You're one to talk about mothers," said Black gruffly. "Where's yours, McKinnon?" I scowled at him, hoping to Merlin he'd stop talking. But Black never stopped talking. "Oh, that's right, she's _dead_. And you did it, didn't you? Or at least you helped."

I didn't help – it was an accident, it wasn't – I didn't think she'd...fragments of thoughts were racing around my head, one after another. I couldn't think straight, but I knew I wanted to wipe that smug grin off of Black's face.

"Sirius!" Lily screeched, standing up from her spot on the sofa. "You don't know anything about Letta's family, so don't go running your mouth about things you don't understand. And same to you, Violetta."

I flinched at the sound of my full name. Instead of answering, I turned around and headed up to the girls dormitories, pulling out my mothers' note as I went.


	3. Quidditch

The first month at Hogwarts flew by with a busy schedule. There were classes, fighting with Black, homework, dueling with Black, hanging round the common room with Lily and Lo, and detentions because of Black. Before I knew it, it was the second week of October and I'd finally gotten back into the routine of being at Hogwarts.

NEWT year was the most important part of our Hogwarts career. The classes were a thousand times harder, there was homework given in every class each night, and all of the teachers had a stick up their arse. I was definiely not ready for seventh year.

My pink hair was way too vibrant for how I felt this morning; I was sluggish and tired since I barely got any sleep the night before. I was half asleep at the Gryffindor table, with my elbow practically on my buttered toast, when a loud _bang!_ made me jump about three feet in the air.  
I looked up and narrowed my eyes. Black smiled charmingly at me as he picked up his spoon and threw it into his bowl again and again, making a terrible racket, just for me.

"Sorry, McKinnon, did I wake you?" he grinned.

"If I had the energy, I'd punch you in the face," I grumbled. Obviously I was not a morning person, and Black knew this.

"Knock it off, Sirius," sighed Remus, who was sitting next to him. "Would it kill you to act your age?"

"Would it kill _you_ to loosen up?" said Black.

"Enough, Padfoot," said James, sitting on Black's other side. He looked very serious, and I think I knew why. _Quidditch_. "We've got to focus. Quidditch tryouts are this week. Your spot is practically guaranteed, since you're the best beater in the school, but you've still got to try out."

"I know, I know," said Black carelessly. It didn't seem to bother him much, since his best friend was captian of the Gryffindor team.

"Letta," said James suddenly, "Lily told me you were a fair Beater."

I glared at Lily, who was a bit pink in the face. I couldn't tell if it was because of my anger or because she had been caught talking to Potter. "Yeah, I guess so. I practice during the summer; my aunt's cottage is in the middle of nowhere."

I ignored Black as he snorted into his third plate of eggs. He was about to say something, but James cut him off. "I think you should try out for the team."

"What?" I said blankly, at the same time Black said, "You've got to be joking."

"I'm not joking," James went on. "It'd be nice to have another female team mate. Gina's on her own in that department." Gina Wilson played Chaser, and she was the only girl on the team. For now.

"That's a good one, Prongs," chuckled Black. "McKinnon on the Quidditch team? Albus Dumbledore will retire before that happens."

"You know what, James?" I said, completely ignoring the idiot sitting next to him. "I think I'll do it." I did love playing Quidditch, especially as Beater. It really got my anger out when I smacked the bludger around. Plus, I knew it would annoy Black to no end if I made the team. I looked over at him and he glowered back.

"I doubt you'll make it," he said, his expression suddenly clearing. He'd realized that his last hope was the tryouts. If I sucked, then obviously I wouldn't make the team. I wasn't convinced that I was as good as any of the other players, and Lily probably made me sound better than I actually was, but it was worth a shot. "I don't think you have what it takes, McKinnon," Black rambled on.

"Oh, Sirius, don't get her riled up," Willow complained from the seat next to me. I knew from her tone of voice that my hair was turning red with his words.

I was just as good as Black in Quidditch – probably better. I'd show him at the tryouts. I'd wipe that smug grin right off his stupid face. "That's it then, isn't it?" I smiled sweetly. "I'm trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

XxXxXx

I was sitting in my favorite squishy armchair during my free period when Lily and Lo came hurrying over, giggling like little girls and talking a hundred miles per hour. I could only make out a few words of their excited sentences, like "masks," and "dresses," and "dancing."

"What are you on about?" I shouted over them.

"There's going to be a Halloween Masquerade Ball!" exclaimed Lo.

"Oh," I said flatly. A Ball? Has Dumbledore lost his marbles? Now, I was always up for a good party, but I never said I could waltz. The term 'ball' sounded so...formal. Was it really necessary to go out and buy a dress? Really, a cute top and a mini-skirt would be sufficient.

"Oh, don't give us that look, Letta, it'll be fun!" Lily laughed. "We've come up with ideas for our hair and makeup, and there's a Hogsmeade trip scheduled next weekend so we can get our dresses, and – "

"We?" I said cautiously.

"Yes, Violetta, _we_. As in you, Lo and I." Lily frowned prettily. "You're not getting out of this, so don't even try. You are coming to this ball." I was afraid of that.

I guess it was nice that we were doing something other than the feast Hogwarts hosted every year, but...well, I hated shopping. No, I _despised_ shopping. I loved to get new clothes, but I hated actually going out to Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade and trying things on. It was a nightmare.

"Can't you lot just go and get my dress for me?" I tried half-heartedly.

"Letta," said Lo sharply. Normally Willow was the peacemaker, but when it came to shopping, she was a bloody tyrant. Lily, too. She looked all sweet and innocent, but underneath all her rainbows and smiles, she was a tiger ready to attack.

I looked back and forth between the two of them. "Fine," I sighed, knowing I couldn't get out of it. "But can we go after the Quidditch tryouts? I don't think my nerves can handle it."

XxXxXx

It was Saturday, the day of the tryouts, and I was wreck. It wasn't because I was nervous, really. It was just because Black kept trying to psych me out by annoying me to no end. He pranked me all morning; my hair had been flickering between purple and red for hours.

"Letta, you're going to do fine," said Lo as we walked down to the Qudditch pitch after lunch. I had refused to eat anything. Like I said, I wasn't nervous, but I thought I'd fly better if I didn't have anything weighing me down.

"Thanks," I said easily. I could do this; I flew at my Aunt Mina's all the time, and I'd ordered a set of bludgers from a Quidditch magazine, so I definitely knew a thing or two about playing Beater. Black better watch out.

"Oi, Letta!" I heard James calling me from across the pitch.

"I'll see you later, guys." I waved at my friends and hurried across the pitch where Potter was pacing anxiously.

"Great turn out this year," he grinned. He was right; there had to be at least fifty people trying out for the team. James was going to have his hands full as captain. "Everyone who's trying out for Chaser, over here!" he called out, gesturing. "Seekers, over there! Keepers, by the goal posts and Beaters, by the benches!"

James gave me a thumbs up as I headed toward several benches set up on the sidelines of the pitch. I smiled as I sat down. I liked that kid; he had charisma. Lily needed to just go out with him already.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by someone yanking at my purple locks of hair. "Black," I muttered angrily.

"Don't mess up, McKinnon," he smirked.

I didn't bother to answer as we waited for the tryouts to start. I guess Black was concentrating on his plays because he didn't bother me until it was our turn to head out onto the pitch. The Beaters went last, but many people stayed to watch the rest of the tryouts, not to mention the people coming down from the castle. All together, we had a pretty fair crowd.

"Alright," shouted James as the potential Beaters mounted their brooms, "I want you all to do a couple of laps round the pitch, just to see how you fly."

I kicked off from the ground and raced toward the goal posts on the other end of the long field. I was kind of a speed demon, but it had its advantages. As soon as I was up in the air, my worries about everything, the tryouts, Black, the Halloween Ball...they just floated away. It was time to kick some Quidditch arse.

I lined up with the other Beaters when everyone was finished with their laps. I saw James dismiss some of the second years, who weren't the best fliers. It amused me greatly that some of the worst players would actually consider trying out for the team.

"Now, I'm going to let some bludgers loose on each of you individually," James called over to us. "I want to see how you aim and how hard you hit. Form a line, please. Smith, you're up first." I watched as a brown-haired fourth year moved forward on his broom.

James watched each of us carefully, even his best friend. Black was pretty good, I'll give him that. He smacked the bludger all the way across the field and into one of the goal posts.

Finally, it was my turn. I hovered next to James as a bludger came barreling down the field, straight at my head. I was trying to focus when suddenly, I heard Black talking.

He was more than halfway down the field, but he was shouting out comments so that I could hear, trying to break my concentration. "I'd move away from her if I were you, Prongs," he bellowed. "The Ice Bitch might contaminate you. You never know when she might _murder_ someone."

I knew he was making jokes about my mother again, and suddenly, red hair was flying in my face instead of purple. I didn't have time to yell back, because the bludger was coming up fast. I swung my bat with all my might and I'm not ashamed to admit that I was aiming for Black.

There was a loud _crack!_ as the bludger was smacked through the air with the force of the Hogwarts Express going at full speed.

The large ball was heading straight for Black, but he was too busy laughing at his lame insults to notice. When he finally saw the speeding bludger coming at him, he tried to move out of the way, but it was too late.

The bludger slammed into his stomach. He grabbed at the ball to divert some of the force from cracking his ribs, and almost fell off his broom. He managed to grab onto the handle at the last second and maneuver the broom to the ground, with the struggling bludger in his arms.

Everyone landed immediately to make sure Black was alright. Girls on the sidelines were practically crying.

"Padfoot, mate, are you okay?" James asked quickly.

"Yeah," said Black dazedly. He stretched his back to see if his ribs were intact. Unfortunately, nothing was broken, but I guess you can't have everything. "I'm alright," he said, trying to shrug it off. Then he turned and glared at me.

I didn't feel guilty at all for hitting him with a speeding bludger. In fact, I took one look at his dazed, angry face and started hysterically laughing. It was just too funny to resist. There were tears in my eyes from laughing so hard, but I couldn't control it.

I was finally calming down when I noticed that Lily and Lo had come down from the stands and were grinning at me. Well, they were trying not to grin out of respect for Black, but it was obvious they thought it was hysterical.

James turned to look at me, and I was suddenly worried that he wouldn't give me a spot on the team because I'd injured a fellow player...and then laughed about it. But what he said to me was really the cherry on top of a perfect day.

"Nice shot, Letta!" The look of shock and outrage on Black's face sent me into fresh peals of laughter once again.


	4. Bribery

"Please, please don't do this to me," I whined as Lily, Lo and I made our way off of the school grounds. It was a week before the Ball and we were finally going shopping for our dresses. Dumbledore had scheduled a Hogsmeade trip so the students could get what they needed.

"Shut up, Letta," warned Lily.

"I can't believe you," said Lo, laughing. "It really shouldn't be this hard to take you shopping with us. You're a _girl_, Violetta. Act like it!" I made a face at her, which only made Lo giggle again.

"Exactly," Lily grumbled in agreement. "We practically have to take her hostage just to have some girl time."

"Oh, Lilykins, you can take me hostage any time you like," I joked, winking at her.

She rolled her eyes at me, but I could see her trying to hide a smile. I couldn't help but smile back - I felt so free. It was the first Hogsmeade trip of the year and I was spending time with my best friends. What more could I want? Well, I suppose the death of Sirius Black would be too much to ask for.

We reached the tiny village of Hogsmeade, where witches and wizards were bustling about, doing their shopping. I had no idea there was even a dress shop here; the only stores I really knew about were The Three Broomsticks, Honeydukes and Zonko's. What can I say, my life consisted of butterbeer, candy and torturing my friends with obnoxious joke-shop toys.

"C'mon, let's head over to Madame Quirky's Shoppe," said Lo excitedly. I followed the two down the street and in about five minutes we were standing in front of a cutesy little shop with an awful lot of pink inside.

As soon as we entered the store, a tiny lady with extremely long, gray hair came hurrying over to us. "How may I help you?" she squeaked cheerfully. I assumed this was Madame Quirky.

"We're looking for dresses," Lily told her. "Hogwarts is having a Halloween Ball this year."

"Oh, how lovely!" Madame Quirky exclaimed. "I have quite a few dresses to choose from. They're all in this section in the back. Help yourself."

Lily and Lo pounced onto the dress rack immediately, but I shuffled along behind them, glancing around at the different colored material. Since it was a masquerade ball, we weren't really required to have costumes. It was a formal dance, but people could bring whatever kind of mask they wanted; scary, pretty, or just a plain one. Honestly, I didn't plan on making a big deal out of this stupid ball, so I didn't really mind what dress I bought – as long as it didn't itch. For some reason, no matter what dress or material I happened to buy, all of the dresses that I owned made me scratch myself raw. I hated itchy material.

I picked a few dresses off of the hangers and tried them on, but none of them seemed to fit right. Lily and Lo threw even more dresses over the door, but according to my friends, there was something wrong with every single one of them.

We finally left the shop empty-handed, and silly old me thought we were done for the day. But no, I was dragged into another store. And another. And another. We went to six shops. _Six._ I felt like I was drowning in scraps of lace, chiffon and silk.

My head got stuck when I accidentally put it through the arm hole – this happened a lot, actually – and the halter straps on a few of the dresses nearly strangled me in the process of getting them off. Plus, nearly _all_ of the dresses itched like crazy!

"Just one more store, Letta," coaxed Lily. Easy for her to say; she and Lo had found their dresses in the third store we went to. Now we were standing outside another boutique and, even though it pains me to admit it, this shop didn't look half as pink and girly as the rest of them.

Lo grabbed my arm and guided me towards the door. I started to pull my fist back, preparing to hit her like I would anyone else, but I put it back at my side almost immediately. I couldn't hit Lo. I mean, sure, I wanted to sometimes; but she was my best friend, despite how bloody annoying she was being at the moment. I just _couldn't_. It was virtually impossible to be mean to Willow Addams. Impossible. She was just too damn sweet and innocent.

We entered the store and repeated the process I'd been going through all day. When I finally came out of the dressing room, still without a dress, I literally dropped to my knees in front of Lily and Lo. I folded my hands in front of me and raised them up, as if I were praying to the Shopping Gods. "Please don't make me go back in there," I begged, looking up at their amused expressions. "Look, obviously I can't find anything, so let's just – " And then I saw it. It was draped over a hanger on the rack right in front of me, practically calling my name.

"Letta?" said Lily curiously. I held up a finger at her and Lo.

"This is it." I scrambled over to the dress and checked the tag; there was only one of them and it was my size! A reasonable price, too. I whisked it off the hanger and marched determinedly back into the Torture Chamber – A.K.A. the dressing room. If I didn't like _this_ one, I was definitely giving up.

But I could already tell, as the cool fabric slipped over my body, that this was the dress I was going to buy. Glancing in the mirror, I studied the dress critically, loving what I saw.

It was creamy white and strapless, and it hung to just above my knees in a thin swish of floating material. The back of the dress was laced up with silky white ribbons, like a corset, and across the chest in the front were intricately laced pearls and silvery beads sewn into the fabric. I quickly changed my hair back to its normal color and realized that the dress went perfect with my deep, chocolate brown hair. But the best part was, it didn't itch!

"Letta, are you okay in there?" called Lo. "Come out so we can – oh!"

I stepped out of the dressing room and twirled around a bit so they could see every angle.

"Violetta! It's beautiful!" Lily gasped. I smiled and thought of my mother. She had always wanted me to act like her pretty little princess. _Here you go, mum_, I thought, _it's just like you always wanted me to be._ I bought the dress immediately and left the shop with my friends chattering beside me.

The most amazing feeling came over me as we walked through the sunshine back towards the castle. It felt as if my mother was looking down at me, finally seeing how hard I was trying to make her proud of me. I had never tried this hard when she was alive, and I always thought that maybe if I had, she would still be here. I knew it was my fault, but even if she couldn't be here to share it with me, I wanted to do this for her. I wanted to be the daughter she always dreamed of having. You know what they say – better late than never.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It was finally Saturday, the day of the Halloween Ball, and the excitement around the school was tangible. Everyone was either talking about their dress, or their mask, or their date – which I didn't have, by the way.

It was kind of sad, really. It's not that I couldn't get a date, but a lot of the blokes in the school were a bit afraid of me. _Good_, I thought to myself, _run away while you still can_. I doubted that I'd be a great girlfriend anyway. I'd had boyfriends before, but it was nothing special, thank Merlin. Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending upon how you looked at it – my luck in the dating department was about to change.

Lily, Willow and I were sitting with the Marauders at breakfast, doing the usual: talking, laughing, arguing and the others entertained themselves by watching Black and I bicker. Somehow, the subject had turned to our dates for the Ball.

"Who're you going with, Padfoot?" James asked his best mate.

"Elise Roberts, from Hufflepuff," he answered indifferently. "You?"

"No one," responded James, glancing at Lily as he said this. "I'm just going to see who's there, I guess."

Black shook his head with pity. "Remus?"

"Well, uh." Remus looked a bit uncomfortable. "About that...see, I was gonna ask...uh," he paused, glancing at my best friend. "Lo?"

Willow looked up quickly, her face turning red. "Yes?" she squeaked.

"D'you want to go to the ball with me?" he stammered.

Everyone was silent, waiting for the answer we knew would come. "Oh," said Lo, "yes. Yes, I'd love to." She beamed, positively glowing with happiness.

"Finally," I muttered, smiling at Lo's blush. "I was wondering when you'd ask her, Remus."

"This is great!" exclaimed Lily. "Now we've just got to find you a date, Letta."

"Who're you going with?" yelped James.

"If you must know," Lily replied coolly, "I'm going with Ryan Nichols, from Ravenclaw." James grimaced and looked away from her. I felt bad for the kid; he tried so hard to get on her good side, but Lily absolutely refused to warm up to him.

"You don't have a date, McKinnon?" Black grinned, almost triumphantly. "What a shame," he said with mock pity. "I thought a great catch like you would have found someone like _that_." He snapped his fingers.

"I hate you," I said, forcing myself to stay calm.

Before he could answer, the most amazing coincidence happened: someone tapped me on the shoulder. Not that an annoying finger jabbing into my shoulder blade was the most exciting thing to ever happen in my pathetic life, but it was the person poking me that made the entire situation amazing. It was a boy from Ravenclaw that I'd seen round the school before, but never really talked to. I think his name was Tommy? Trevor? Definitely something with a T.

"Hey, Letta, right?" he said quietly. I could tell he was a bit shy. "I'm Travis Rolland. Could I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"

"Oooh!" said Peter Pettigrew, teasing me.

I gave him a dirty look and got up from the table. "Lead the way," I told Travis. But before I got up, I shot Sirius a smirk. _How's that for not getting a date? _Not to be concieted or anything, but I think we all knew what was coming. I followed Travis out of the Great Hall and into a secluded corner of the Entrance Hall.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked.

"Well, the Halloween Ball is tonight, and I was just wondering..." His voice trailed off.

"You were just wondering..."

"If you would be my date," said Travis quickly. "I know everyone says you're the Ice Queen of Hogwarts, but...I want to give you a chance. And I hope you'll give me one, too."

I considered this. I _was_ the Ice Queen of Hogwarts, whether I liked it or not. So I guess it was nice of him to ask me out. And he was really cute...

"Sure, Travis," I grinned, actually getting excited about the ball for the first time. "I'll be your date."

We both walked away smiling.

XxXxXxXXxXxXxXXxXx

The girls' dormitory was a whirlwind of activity that night. Everyone was hurrying to get ready, and there were girls flying about all over the place, including me. Rachel Bruin and her bonehead friends were putting on their ten layers of makeup, along with the sluttiest dresses imaginable (then again, I was a bit biased) but no one paid any attention to them. I was too focused on trying to get my hair to stay in its place.

I told Travis to meet me in the Gryffindor common room at seven o'clock. He was a Ravenclaw, so he had to knock on the portrait of the Fat Lady and get someone to let him in. I had made it Remus's job to open the portrait hole, and thank Merlin he agreed to it.

I put on the last of my jewelry at three minutes to seven and finally deemed myself ready. Everyone else had already left the dormitory except for me, Lily and Lo.

Lo came out looking like a goddess; she was wearing a shimmery sapphire blue dress, and every time she moved it looked as if thousands of stars were winking back at us through the material. She wore matching high heeled shoes and the color made her gorgeous eyes pop through her shiny silver mask. Lo's hair was was usually always wavy, but tonight she had made it pin-straight and parted it to the side so it gracefully fell over one shoulder. Remus would drop dead after taking one look at her.

Lily was equally as beautiful in a long, emerald green dress that complimented her eyes and her perfect figure in all the right places. Her dark red hair was curled elegantly around her face, silky enough to make any girl jealous. Lily's mask was also green with only a few silver undertones woven in so it didn't look too much like Slytherin colors.

My dress was just as gorgeous as when I tried it on in the store, and my hair was its natural chocolate brown color. It was piled on top of my head in elaborate curls with just a few strands framing my face, making my features look softer. My mask was gold, enhancing the cream color of the dress, and beaded with pearls. I charmed it so the mask didn't have to go around my head; instead, it had a gold handle so I could hold it up to my face.

Once we gave each other the appropriate compliments, we all headed downstairs to our awaiting dates. I didn't think I would be this excited, but I realized this night would be fantastic. Getting Travis as a date was just an added bonus.

When we reached the common room, we found all of the Marauders standing there, staring at us. Remus was grinning so wide, I thought his face would split, and James merely looked dumbstruck at Lily's appearance.

"Willow, you look stunning," I heard Remus compliment her, and her giggle in response.

I saw Lily meet up with her date, Ryan, who also looked amazed by what he saw. I glanced around the common room for Travis, but he was no where in sight. I thought he would have come with Ryan since they were both in the same house and needed to be let through the portait hole.

"Looking for someone?" Black came up behind me, smirking insufferably.

"What's it to you?" I demanded, turning to face him. He was wearing all black dress robes with a collared white button-down underneath. His hair was in its usual style, casually swept across his face and falling into his eyes, which were peeking out behind a simple black mask. To be honest, Black did look hot. Too bad his personality was so foul.

"It's nothing, really," he said, grinning manically.

I ignored him, trying not to let his stupidity get to me; tonight was going to be great. I stood there talking with my friends for over ten minutes before Ryan started complaining.

"We should get going," he said to Lily.

She frowned at him. "But Letta's date isn't here yet." I'd been listening for a knock on the portrait hole while we talked, but it didn't come. _Where was Travis?_

There was suddenly a small choking sound coming from behind me. I whipped around to find Sirius with red cheeks and tears in his eyes from trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I hissed at him.

"Oh, nothing," he said, chuckling. "I just thought you'd like to know that your date won't be joining us this evening."

"Why not?" I asked in a low, deadly voice. Our friends were gathered around us, listening intently.

"Travis had a change of heart." His smirk grew more pronounced.

"What do you mean?"

"I had a little chat with him earlier," said Black indifferently. "Told him what a mistake he's making. He agreed with me when I told him what a complete psychopath you are. Travis knows all about your bitchy attitude, Letta, and he was willing to ignore it. But I think I talked him out of it. Plus, bribing him to stand you up didn't hurt."

"You...you didn't," I said, my face getting hot from anger.

"I did."

"Sirius Black!" exclaimed Lily. "That was a terrible thing to do!"

"Why did you have to go and ruin her night, Sirius?" said Lo sharply.

According to the bewildered and slightly frightened looks I was getting, my hair had turned tomato-red. My friends were about to scold him some more on my behalf, but I decided to take matters into my own hands.

"_Diffindo!_" I shouted angrily, snatching my wand out of my handbag and aiming it at Black. His sleeve was ripped open by the curse and a gash appeared on his bicep. He stared at his bleeding arm for a few seconds, wide-eyed, before he looked up at me, glowering.

"My robes are ruined now," he snarled. There was a cut on his arm gushing blood and the only thing he cared about was his robes. Pathetic. Black hastily raised his wand, ignoring the injury. "_Locomotor Mortis!_" My legs were instantly stuck together; I couldn't move them at all except to try and hop around the room.

"You bastard!" I screeched. "_Waddiwasi!_" Black's body rose into the air and was thrown back into the wall. He slumped down for a moment, but was right back on his feet in a matter of seconds.

"Letta, Sirius, _stop!_" I heard Lily call out, but I decided to ignore her. This was between me and Black.

"_Flagrate!_" I felt a sizzling burn mark appear on my left forearm. The skin was red and shiny from the blister caused by Black's wand.

It barely hurt, so I paid no attention to the minor injury. I was about to shoot another cutting jinx at him when I heard a familiar yell from across the common room.

"BLACK! MCKINNON!" It was the head of Gryffindor house, and she was pissed. Someone must have run to get McGonagall when we started dueling.

My heart sank when I saw the Professor's face. It was stark white and her lips were pressed into the thinnest line I had ever seen. This would not be good.

"Explain yourselves," she whispered ominously. The entire common room had gone silent, and I really didn't have anything to say. Somehow, I knew she wouldn't like my explanation that we started dueling because Black had sabotaged my date for the ball.

Black seemed to be thinking the same thing, since all he said was, "well..."

I thought it would be best to start off with an apology. "Professor, I'm really sorry about the duel. But Black is always – "

"Stop right there, Ms. McKinnon!" McGonagall snapped, her eyes flashing. "I have had enough of this! I see no reason why you two can't put aside your differences for one night to let the rest of your house enjoy the ball. You are both embarrassing yourselves and your house by acting so foolish." She took a steadying breath, trying to control her shouting. "I am hereby banning you both from the Halloween Ball. If you can't act properly towards each other in your own common room, I'd hate to see how you act in public."

"Banned?" I repeated incredulously.

"But Professor – " Black started, but McGonagall cut him off.

"Enough!" she barked. "You brought this upon yourselves." Professor McGonagall left through the portrait hole, leaving a dead silence in her wake.

We were banned.


	5. Story Time

"Are you happy now?" I said grumpily, sitting on the edge of the sofa. Everyone had left for the ball that Black and I would no longer be attending. I was still angry, but I forced my hair to go back to its normal brown and tried to stifle the urge to punch Black in the face. He ruined the whole night; now, because of his cruel immaturity, I was stuck in Gryffindor Tower alone.

Well, almost alone. I expected Black to head up to the boys' dormitories, but instead he sat down next to me, staring into the fire.

"Not really," he shrugged in response, conjuring a cloth with his wand and holding it on his arm to stop the bleeding. "It's your fault we're stuck here."

I opened my mouth to argue, but what good would it do? Nothing I said would penetrate his thick skull. Besides, it didn't matter who was right and who was wrong; we were still banned from the ball.

I glanced down at my beautiful dress that no one would get to see. I thought of my mother; all of this had been for her, and it turned out to be a waste of time and energy. Then I thought of my father, who would be shaking his head at me if he were alive. _"Letta,"_ I imagined he would say, _"if you can't go to the party, start your own!"_

That made me laugh out loud, but I ignored Black's confused stare. Before I knew it, I was standing up and twirling about the room to a beat in my head. It had taken me hours to find this dress. I'd be damned if it didn't get _some _dancing time.

"What in the name of Merlin...?"

"Shh!" I said to Black. He was ruining my magical memory.

When I was five years old, my parents had dragged me to a party at one of their wealthy friend's houses. I wanted to dance, like the rest of the children, but my mother made me stay by her side at all times. My dad, on the other hand, was a party animal.

_"Come on, angel,"_ he'd said to me. _"Let's dance!"_

I stood on his feet as he twirled me gracefully around the dance floor. My happy laughter made my father smile and spin me faster. This was the earliest memory I had of feeling truly loved. Under the bright fairy lights with my daddy's arms around me, I thought it would be that way forever.

Suddenly, I felt _real_ strong arms wrapping around my waist. It snapped me out of my memory and pulled me back into the Gryffindor common room where I was gazing up at Black.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm dancing with you, McKinnon," he said, as if explaining something to a very small child.

"Why?" I said stupidly. Ten minutes ago we were at each others' throats, and now he wanted to dance with me?

"You looked pathetic dancing by yourself," said Black, flashing a crooked grin. Leave it to Black to cover up an insult by doing something nice.

We danced around the common room for a while. Our moves were a bit awkward; since there was no music, we were dancing to different tunes in our minds, causing us to move out of sync with each other.

I laughed. "We must look ridiculous."

"Speak for yourself," said Black seriously. Finally, we pulled away from each other (a bit awkwardly) and sat back down on the sofa.

I looked at him. Really looked. I couldn't figure him out – Black was like a roller coaster. One minute he was up, joking with his friends and acting at least civil towards me. The next minute he was down, way down, insulting me and cursing me and treating my friends like crap. Not that I really cared about his moods. I hated this bloke; he was rude and selfish, mean and arrogant. _Just like you..._said a tiny voice in my head, but I ignored it.

"Black," I said quietly, debating whether or not to ask him. I decided to do it; what did I have to lose? "Would you...tell me about your family?"

He didn't even flinch. It was almost as if he was expecting me to ask that question. "Why?" he said calmly.

"The last time I made a comment about your family, Lily told us both that we shouldn't run our mouths about things we don't understand. I want to understand. I want you to tell me."

Black thought about that for a minute. "Okay," he said finally. "You were right about my family. The House of Black is...messed up. More messed up than you can imagine," he muttered bitterly. "My parents raised me and my brother to be perfect purebloods. We were taught at a very young age that we were better than muggleborns. At that time, they didn't hate witches or wizards who didn't have pure blood. It was just the way things were.

"But then, Voldemort started to gain power. He wasn't well known, like he is now; there were no disappearences, just crazy ideas about pureblood status. These ideas spread that muggleborns didn't deserve to have magic, that they weren't good enough. My parents bought into that crap. They believe that anyone who isn't born from magical parents has dirty blood. My entire family has been in Slytherin since the beginning of time, and they wanted to keep it that way. By the time I was old enough to go to Hogwarts, I had started...questioning what my parents were telling me. I was still young, so I wanted to believe that my parents had all the answers. But something about it didn't seem right.

"When my cousin, Andromeda, started dating a muggleborn, the entire family visited to tell her what a disgrace she was. Her parents even hexed her." At this point in his story, I had another question to ask, but I decided to wait until he was finished. "She was the first to be disowned. I remember thinking that Andromeda was a great person. She was by far my favorite cousin. She still is." Black smiled briefly. "By the time I met James, Peter and Remus on the train ride to Hogwarts, I'd decided that my parents' beliefs were rubbish. You shouldn't be judged just because of who your parents are. People had even judged me because my parents were the meanest purebloods around." I knew he was referring to me when he said that. For the first time, I felt guilty for being so cruel to Black.

Black sighed and ran his fingers through his silky hair. I suddenly had the strange urge to touch it. "When I was sorted into Gryffindor, my parents had a fit. They even tried to get Dumbledore to put me in Slytherin, but he wouldn't do it. Every summer when I went to stay with them, they tried to beat the Gryffindor attitude out of me. Literally. But I was already rebelling against them, hanging up my house banner in my room and telling them what gits they were for believing in all of that pureblood rubbish. My brother, Regulus, and I used to be close when we were young. But he believed in every word my parents said, including the bad things about me. Now look at him; a Death Eater in training. It's disgusting."

Black looked right into my eyes. "Last summer, my parents and I had another huge fight. It wasn't anything new, since we fought every single day. This time, I ran away to James's house. I got the letter a few days later that I had been officially disowned. The Potters were great about it and they're letting me stay with them until I finish Hogwarts. Before my Uncle Phillius died, he left me a pretty large amount of gold. I know I can make it on my own, but thanks to my best mates, I don't have to."

There was silence in the common room when Black stopped talking. I really hadn't known anything about him, and I still felt that twinge of guilt for making assumptions. Now I really understood what his friends meant to him. They were his family.

"Did your parents ever..." my voice trailed off uncertainly. For some odd reason, I didn't want to push it with Black. Not now, anyway.

"Did they ever hex me?" he asked, guessing right. Black smirked and pushed up the sleeves of his dress robes. There were dozens of scars, going all the way up his arm and onto his shoulder. "They used burning hexes when I was younger, but once I was sorted into Gryffindor, they started with the heavy curses. Last summer, I got the Cruciatus curse about five times a day." He actually grinned at this, letting me know that I hadn't offended him.

"Oh," I said blankly. I knew he wouldn't want any pity, so I didn't offer any 'I'm sorry's or, 'you poor thing's. I just nodded and thought to myself, _he's still arrogant and rude, but I had him all wrong. He's nothing like his family._

Black nodded thoughtfully to himself. "Now it's your turn," he said eventually.

"My turn?" I said, surprised. "For what?"

"To tell me about your family...and what happened with your mother."

I stared at him, my face impassive. Of course he would want to know about what happened. It was only fair. And before I could think it through any further, I began my story:

"My family used to be happy. When I was little, I mean. I was born a Metamorphmagus and I've always liked to wear my hair in wild colors. My dad thought it was crazy, and he loved it. Dad always encouraged me to be myself. I took after him in so many ways, but I guess that changed as I grew up. I can't find him in myself anymore."

I realized this made me extremely sad. It was almost as if I were forgetting him. "My mum was the complete opposite of my dad. She hated when anything was out of order and wanted everything to be perfect all the time. Including me. Sometimes I found myself wondering how they had ever fallen in love, much less got married and spent their lives together.

"My dad was an Unspeakable at the Ministry of Magic, and I'm sure he knew some important information that Voldemort would have loved to get his hands on; at this point, about four years ago, his followers were starting to make their presence known in the magical world. One night, when I was about twelve, Death Eaters came to the house. Me and my mum were out somewhere. When we came home, we found him lying there in the kitchen. His eyes were still open."

I took a deep breath and moved on. "After his death, my mother became really...odd. At first, she wouldn't even look at me. It was as if I didn't exist in her world...as if she didn't have a daughter. I felt completely abandoned. I'd always been her Little Flower, and then all of a sudden it was like she wanted me dead. I remember when my dad was alive, he would always bring her violets when he came home from work. They were her favorite flower. And when she had me...she hoped I'd be just like her."

Part of me wanted to stop talking, but I had to tell this story. I _needed_ to. "After a while, she snapped out of it. But she was more controlling than she'd ever been. She was always telling me I wasn't good enough, always trying to get me to be _perfect_. One night, during spring break of third year, we had a huge fight. It was worse than any fight we'd ever had. I was fed up with her being so ashamed of me. We were right in each other's faces and...I told her I hated her. I screamed it so loud, it tore my throat. I left the house and went to Lo's...three days later, I got the letter. My mother had committed suicide. She'd slashed her throat with her own wand."

I turned to face Black, who had inched closer to me while I was talking. "Remember that night, after the incident in the trophy room?" I asked grimly.

"Yeah..."

"You told me that I did it. That I killed my mother," I said, jogging his memory. I saw his eyes get wide. "You were right," I said. "It's my fault she's dead. Maybe if I hadn't said that I hated her...maybe if I'd stayed...she would still be here."

"No, Letta," said Black. "No. That's not true. I was wrong, it's not your fault. Your mother did it. Not you."

I shook my head. He'd called me Letta. "It doesn't matter now," I said, still not believing him. I knew deep down, in the center of my heart, it was my fault.

There was a silence as we both absorbed what we'd learned about each other tonight. Something was different between us now. I didn't like the guy; he was still rude, selfish and arrogant. And I'm sure he felt the same way about me. But I couldn't pretend that nothing had changed, because it was obvious that _something _had. We weren't friends. I didn't know if we ever would be. But tonight, in this moment, we were neutral.

We sat in the quiet common room for a few minutes, not looking at each other. I wanted to say something, anything, to break the eerie silence. But there was nothing left to say. I stood up suddenly, looking down at the handsome boy on the couch. "It's getting late," I said softly. "I'm gonna head up."

I turned and walked over to the girls' dormitory staircase. I didn't hear him get up, but I felt Black's hand close over my wrist, stopping me for a moment.

"I still don't like you," he grinned.

"Well _I_ still don't like _you_," I said.

"Okay. Goodnight, Letta."

"Goodnight, Sirius." I started to climb the stairs but his barking laughter stopped me. "What?" I asked. He was smirking again, shaking his head. "_What?_" I insisted.

"You called me Sirius." He turned around and headed to his dormitory, leaving me with my hair slowly turning red.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

It was late. I was sitting up in my bed, waiting for Lily and Lo to come back from the ball. I couldn't get the conversation I'd had with Black out of my head. Why had I told him that? _Why?_ Now he had something on me. He could use that against me. I hated making myself vulnerable, and I'd just become the weakest thing in Sirius Black's eyes. Merlin, I hated him.

There was a clatter on the stairs and the dormitory door opened to reveal Lily and Willow standing on the stairs, giggling. I noticed that Rachel Bruin and her dim-wit friend hadn't come back to the dormitory yet.

"Oh, hey, Letta," said Lo. "Why are you still up?"

"Couldn't sleep," I said, smiling slightly. "How was the ball?"

"It was fantasitc!" said Lily, coming into the room and twirling around. I wondered idly if someone had spiked the punch.

"She danced with James," Lo explained. "That's why she's so happy."

"That is _not_ why I'm happy," Lily denied. "I just...it was just...I had a really good time, okay?"

"Oh, come _on_, Lils," I said, grinning. "You can come up with a better excuse than that." She was blushing so hard, she looked like a tomato.

"How was your night?" she asked, changing the subject.

The smile melted off my face. "It was alright," I said carefully. I didn't know how I was going to tell them this – no, that's not it. I knew exactly how I would tell them, I just didn't know how I would live it down. "I hung out with Black in the common room."

They both froze; Lily was in the middle of taking off her makeup and Lo was putting her pajama pants on.

"And?" said Willow, watching my face carefully.

"I told him." It was amazing how they knew exactly what I was talking about. I guess that's why they were my best friends. But what I didn't understand is why they glanced at each other and grinned. It wasn't just a grin, though – it was a secret grin, a smile that I was definitely not supposed to see or understand. You know what I mean?

"What?" I said blankly.

"Oh, nothing," said Lily quickly, turning back to the mirror. Lily never was a good liar.

"_What?_" I repeated, looking straight at Lo.

"Well, now that you've told him about your mum, maybe he'll stop bugging you about it," said Lo. But she wouldn't look me in the eye. "That's going to reduce all the fights you two manage to start."

"He told me about his family, too." I took the pins out of my hair and let the curls cascade down my back. I thought back to when he told his story, the look in his eyes. He was so different from them. He was different in my eyes, now, too. Well, sort of. He was still Black, after all. One night wouldn't change that.

"You know that he's going to run straight to the other three and tell them about your family," warned Lo. I thought about that, but I decided I didn't care much. If you were friends with one of the Marauders, you were friends with all of them. They were like a package deal. It was the same concept; if you told one of them, you've told all of them. They should have been girls, the way those four gossiped.

"So it looks like you two got to know each other better," said Lily.

I shrugged. "I guess. I still hate him, though. Just not as much as I used to."

There was that look again. The same secretive, don't-tell-Letta-what-we're-up-to look. Was I going crazy? I wanted to ask what was going on, but I decided I'd just keep a close watch on them. One way or another, I'd find out what those looks meant.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

**Sirius's Point Of View:**

I waited up for my friends in the dormitory, wide awake. I thought about going down to the grounds for a run, but it's no fun being an Animagus unless you've got someone to share it with.

I looked out the window. It was a half moon, which meant the full moon would be coming up in a week or so. Poor Moony. I was glad he went to the ball with Lo. He deserved to have some fun.

No matter what I tried to think of, no matter how many stupid and pointless distractions came to my mind, nothing could keep me from thinking of McKinnon. Bloody McKinnon. Bitchy, rude, snobby McKinnon. Guarded, strong, beautiful McKinnon.

What? No. She wasn't beautiful. Well, okay. Maybe a little. Just tonight. Her hair was it's normal color, which I wasn't used to seeing, although I did love the bright rainbow of colors she usually wore on her head. It wasn't a bad sight. And that dress tonight was very flattering...not that I was looking.

The story about her family had surprised me a little. I didn't think she would actually take it seriously when I said she killed her mother. I guess McKinnon is full of surprises. I definitely didn't think she could be so...real.

McKinnon had always been difficult and easy to provoke. I hated her since first year, but it was pretty fun to argue with her. We only dueled if things got serious, which had happened a lot lately. We fought more this year than any other. Well, we _dueled_ more this year than any other. Normally I would never hit a girl, but McKinnon...she was a special case. It's not like I wanted to beat her senseless or anything; I wasn't _abusive_. But sometimes I just wanted to jinx her so she'd shut up, or give her jelly legs so she couldn't sock me in the face. Not that I was scared of her.

I shook my head, as if trying to shake away my thoughts about her. Then, I heard a racket on the stairs. That would be Prongs, Moony and Wormtail. They'd get my mind off that stupid –

"Padfoot!" called Prongs as soon as he entered the room. "Paddy, my best mate, you were right!"

"I always am," I snorted. "What was I right about this time, exactly?"

"Lily!" he practically screamed in my ear. I could tell he was excited. "You said she'd come 'round!"

"What happened?" I asked Remus.

"They danced together," said Moony, shaking his head at James.

"Is that all?" I said. "From the way you were acting, Prongs, I'd have thought you shagged her." Peter let out a giggle, obviously trying to make sure we didn't forget about him.

"Shut up," muttered James. "Even you can't ruin tonight for me. It was amazing. She looked...amazing. She is – "

"Yeah, yeah, she's amazing," I grumbled. "We get it. Honestly, mate, when I said she'd come 'round, I didn't think she actually would." I grinned at James's frowning face. "I was just trying to give your ego a boost. You looked like a sick puppy the last time she went nutters and screamed at you."

He knew I was joking, but he just had to shove the pillow in my face anyway.

"How was your night?" asked Remus.

I shrugged. "Alright, I guess. I was with McKinnon in the common room." That got them to shut up.

"You were what?" asked James, raising his eyebrows.

"I said, I was with – "

"I know," James cut me off, "but why? I thought you hated her?" Then, the strangest thing happened. Remus looked at James. James looked at Remus. Peter just looked...confused. But the other two...they were up to something. And it was definitely not a prank, otherwise I'd be in on it.

"What?" I demanded. They just grinned.

"Nothing, Sirius," said Moony, patting my shoulder. "Nothing at all."

I narrowed my eyes at them. "I _do_ hate McKinnon," I reminded them, "but there was nothing else to do and you know I get bored easily. I told her about my family," I added. They nodded, and I saw James's face darken. "And she told me about hers..." Now _that_ got a reaction out of them. James was gawking, Remus had to sit down on the bed before he fell over and Peter...well, Peter had his usual face on. You know the one I'm talking about.

"She told you? And you're still alive?" said Prongs.

I laughed. "Yeah, but it's not exactly a funny story. I was wrong about her, and the whole thing with her mum."

"I told you so," muttered Remus.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Her mum killed herself," I told them, feeling a little guilty for telling them McKinnon's secret.

The guys didn't say anything, and neither did I. There was nothing to say. I had been wrong, as hard as that was to admit. But it was done with. Now I knew a little bit more about the girl I hate. Speaking of girls...

"So, Moony, how was your date with Lo?" I grinned when he blushed.

"It was good," he said, trying to sound casual.

Needless to say, we spent the rest of the night teasing Remus about his new girlfriend.

"Sirius Black, she is _not_ my girlfriend!"

"...yet."


	6. Enemies

**A/N: Ugh okay, I'm not 100% satisfied with this chapter. I wrote it a while ago and at the time, the idea was portrayed exactly how I wanted it to be. Now, I'm not so sure. But anyway, I promise things will start to pick up within the next few chapters! Thanks to anyone who reads or reviews, it means a lot!**

**XxXx****XxXx****XxXx****XxXx****XxXx****XxXx**

**Letta's Point Of View:**

I spent the whole night of the Ball tossing and turning, so it was no surprise when I woke up after everyone else had already left the dormitory. Thank Merlin it was Sunday.

And then I sat bolt upright in bed. _It was Sunday._ It was the day James would post the names of the people who made the Quidditch team...

I jumped out from under the warm covers and quickly dressed in casual muggle jeans and a t-shirt. I focused my mind on making my hair curly and every color of the rainbow, starting from the front of my head and working its way back. Then I bounded down the stairs into the common room where students were jumping all over each other, trying to get a look at the list posted on the bulletin board.

I rushed towards it, knocking over a third year who was in my way. When people saw me coming, many of them moved, but it wasn't a good morning for the ones who didn't. I used my elbows, fists, shoulders and even my teeth at one point before I made it to the front of the line.

And there it was. My name, written hastily in James's messy handwriting. _Violetta McKinnon __– Beater._

"YES!" I shouted, pushing my way back out of the crowd and twirling around the common room. I spotted my friends in the corner and danced over, grinning from ear to ear.

"I made it!" I crowed, laughing at Black's sour expression. "I told you I would," I said to him, gloating just a little bit.

"Shut up," he muttered.

I had forgotten to check for Black's name on the list. "What about you? Did you make it?"

"Of course," he scoffed. "There's no way I would have been cut from the team."

"Congratulations," I said grudgingly, choosing to overlook his arrogance. Black obviously thought I was being sarcastic and decided not to answer. I turned to James, who was looking quite amused. "Thanks, James," I said. "You're the best Quidditch captain ever."

"Wait until you hear his pre-match pep talks," Black muttered, earning a slap from the captain himself.

"Practices start next week; Monday, Wednesday and Friday, seven o'clock sharp," said James. "Now, Letta, I know you're not gonna like this but...I've asked Sirius to do me a favor as a fellow Quidditch player and I need you to go along with it."

Oh boy. "What is it?" I asked, resigned.

"I want you and Sirius to go down to the Quidditch pitch later today and hit the Bludgers around. He'll give you some pointers, and even though you do well on your own, he's been a Beater longer than you have, like it or not."

Black shot me a smug look. "James," I protested, already knowing it wasn't going to work.

"No, Letta. You're part of the team now," said James, "and that means you have to be a team player. At least try to make this work. And just so you two don't kill each other off without anyone knowing, I've asked Chris Williams to go down to the pitch with you. He was the next best Beater after you, Letta."

"Fine," I huffed, grabbing onto Lily and Lo's arms. "Let's go," I muttered, and started dragging them over to the portrait hole.

"Four o'clock, Letta," James called after me. "I booked the pitch. Be there."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Duck!" a voice yelled from above my head. I looked up to see a burly blonde boy chasing after a Bludger that was zooming straight towards my head. I jumped out of the way just as the boy jumped off his broomstick in midair and tackled the Bludger to the ground. I could tell he was showing off, which normally would have annoyed me, but he was pretty cute. He had puppy-dog brown eyes, an angular face and a wide, happy smile.

"Hey," he said, coming over to me after putting the struggling Bludger back into its case. "You must be Letta. I'm Chris Williams."

"Oh, hey," I said casually. He was about my height, so I could look him right in the eye without having to tilt my head up or down. "You're not on the team, right?" I said, even though I knew that answer. Might as well make small talk while we waited for His Heighness to arrive.

Chris laughed and made a face. "No, you beat me at the tryouts. I missed one of the Bludgers when Potter made us aim at the moving targets. But that was some hit you made up there." He gestured toward the Quidditch pitch. I assumed he was referring to when I socked Black in the stomach with that Bludger.

"Thanks," I grinned. "It sure felt brilliant."

"You and Sirius aren't on the best terms, are you?" Chris said thoughtfully.

"No," said a voice from behind us, "we're not." Black had strolled up without us noticing, glowering at Chris and looking miserable. It wasn't hard to figure out that he didn't want to be there.

Chris either didn't notice Black's anger, or he didn't care. "Right, then," he said cheerfully, clapping his hands together. "What should we work on first?"

"I want to see how far her Bludgers will go," said Black, jerking his head at me.

"I thought you saw that at tryouts," Chris laughed, winking at me. He was _really_ cute. I smiled back, but Black seemed to be in an even worse mood now.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't exactly moving around to dodge the Bludger," he spat. "So get in the air, Williams, and we'll see if she can knock you off your broom." It sounded as if that's exactly what Black wanted to happen.

Chris opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it. I didn't get why everyone was so afraid of Black; he was popular, not a god. But Williams just took off into the air without defending himself.

"Someone's a bit cranky this evening," I teased. Black turned towards me, scowling.

"That bloke gets on my nerves," he said fiercly.

"Whatever you say, chief." I mock saluted him and mounted my broom.

"And stop flirting with Williams," Black added. "I don't like him."

That instantly got my back up. "I can flirt with whoever I want, Black. You're not my father and you are definitely _not_ my boyfriend." I kicked off into the air and left him sulking alone on the ground.

Merlin, what was _wrong_ with him? Maybe his girlfriend of the week broke up with him. No, that was impossible. No one ever dumped Black. He was always the dumper, never the dumpee. He was acting so odd, though. I didn't know why, but it was obvious Black had a problem with Chris. I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Although, it was a bit funny to see Black so mad.

The rest of the Beater practice was...interesting, to say the least. I could have made an excuse that Black was just so irritated that his game was off, but we all knew that wasn't true. Black was purposely aiming those Bludgers at Chris and, although Chris had been playing fairly well the entire pracice, there were a few Bludgers being "accidentally" hit towards a certain someone. Three guesses who.

When we were finally allowed to land, I hopped off my broom and took off for the castle as quickly as possible. Honestly, what a bunch of immature prats. They had been acting so oddly, glaring at each other every time they flew past and aiming the ball at the others' head. I didn't know why they were acting like five-year-olds, and judging by the swooping in my stomach each time I looked at Black, I didn't want to know. So I just headed across the pitch without saying goobye to either of them. Not that I would have said goodbye to Black anyway.

"Letta! Wait up!" I heard Chris yell, just as Black called, "McKinnon! Stop for a second!" I turned around and found the two glowering at each other. And then I snapped.

"What the hell has gotten into you two?" I growled. "You're staring each other down as if you're about to duel and you were hitting Bludgers at each other left and right!"

"Isn't it obvious?" Chris sneered before Black could open his mouth. "Little Sirius here is jealous."

"That's ridiculous," Black said, just ask I asked, "jealous of _what_?"

"He's been trying to stop us from talking the entire practice because he knows we'd end up flirting," said Chris. He was a bit cocky, wasn't he? Well, so was Black. But it worked for him. With Chris it was just...annoying. "And Sirius wouldn't want us to flirt because he secretly likes you. He just tries to cover it up by bickering with you non-stop."

I actually felt sorry for the poor kid, idly wondering if he had any friends at all. He obviously wasn't the fastest broom in the shed. We were getting into dangerous territory here, and I was not liking it at all.

"Listen up, Wlliams," I said harshly, actually coming to Black's defense. "You're mental if you think Black actually likes me. And you forgot to mention that you were acting like a slimy git as well. Were _you_ jealous?" I was becoming angrier with every word and, judging by Chris's face, my hair was turning red. Again. I saw uncertainty flash through his eyes and Black grinned behind him. "That's what I thought," I continued when Chris didn't answer. "You keep your fat mouth closed about things you don't understand. I have half a mind to hex your ears off, you worthless little cockroach. Now get out of my sight." Williams, the coward, gave me a look of deepest disgust and hurried off the pitch.

Turning to Black, I saw another grin stretching across his face. "What are you smirking at?" I snapped.

"Nothing, nothing," he said. "But...that was brilliant, McKinnon."

To say I was surprised would have been the understatement of the year; I had expected him to tell me off for coming to his defense. Usually Black worked alone.

"Oh," I said. "Yeah, well, he pissed me off."

"I can tell." We started to make our way back towards the castle and I had a fleeting thought that this was one of the very few conversations I'd ever had with Black that didn't involve yelling, dueling or injuries. In fact, there was no fighting at all.

"That boy is off his rocker," I commented.

Black snorted in disgust. "I know. Acting like he knows everything about us. He's mad."

"Yeah," I grumbled, "telling us he thinks you like me. Stupid git. Everyone knows you think I'm a tempermental bitch who has no soul."

"Exactly!" Black said enthusiastically. "And everyone knows you think I'm an arrogant, pompous fool who struts round the castle like I own the place."

"Exactly," I said, nodding. "What does he know?"

"Nothing, that's what."

"I mean, we can hate each other if we want to," I said indignantly. We stopped in front of the large oak doors that opened as the entrance to the castle.

"Enemies?" Black grinned and held out his hand.

"Enemies." I shook his hand, looking up into his handsome face. He was so tall, I had to crane my neck to look at him, which is weird since I'm much taller than my friends. His silver eyes glowed in the light from the half moon that was just peeking out from behind a cloud. Looking at him now, it would be easy to mistake him for a completely normal, non-evil boy. But this was Black I was looking at - and he was currently staring at me with such intensity that I couldn't look away. We stayed locked in that trance for what seemed like hours, trying to figure the other one out. I could practically hear the gears grinding in his head.

Finally, I took a step back, breaking whatever had come over me. "Well," I said coolly, putting more distance between us as he continued to stare into my eyes. It wasn't until then that I realized I was still grasping his hand. I snatched mine back and felt cold air rush over the place his fingers had been. "Goodnight, Black." I left him standing there and hurried back to the common room.

I never noticed how devestatingly handsome Black was. I mean, everyone thought he was good-looking. I just never understood why.

When I climbed through the portrait hole, I saw Lily and Lo in the far corner, talking to James, Peter and Remus. It must have been something fascinating if Lily was actually having a conversation with them and not trying to murder James.

"I know," Lily was saying when I walked up, "they are just so - "

"Hi, Letta!" said Lo, spinning Lily around to face me. They both had on wide, slightly deranged smiles, and Lily was turning a bright red.

"Oh, h-hi, Letta. How, um, how was practice?" Lily had never been a good liar, so I instantly knew something was going on. I turned to the boys, who were all looking in different directions.

"Practice was fine," I said, looking at the five of them curiously. "What have you guys been up to?"

"Nothing really," said Lo. "Just hanging around."

"I see," I said slowly.

"Yeah, well, Moony and I have some, uh, homework to do, right, Moony?" said James nervously.

"Uh, yeah, right," Remus agreed quickly. "C'mon, Pete." The three of them scampered up the boys' staircase and out of sight.

"I should probably start that Potions essay," said Lily, her face returning to its normal shade. "But I think I left my bag in the library. I'll see you later, Letta."

"Wait, Lily, I'll come with you." Lo rushed after her before I could say another word.

I just sighed and headed up to the girls dormitory, thinking, _since when does James Potter do homework?_


	7. Dangerous

"You should have just turned left!"

"Black, if I had turned left that would have sent me flying straight into the stands." My patience was wearing thin. I promised the team I would try to keep my anger in check and tolerate Black's insufferable behavior, but it wasn't really working. The red color of my hair was proof of that.

"Well, at least it wouldn't have messed up my play," grumbled Black. We were making our way back from Quidditch practice; freezing, soaked and covered in mud, no one on the team was very happy. It was the middle of November and it had been sleeting outside everyday for the past week. I was excited for when the real snow would come.

"Letta!" I looked up and saw Lo waving at me outside the Great Hall, with Lily by her side. I went over to them and unfortunately, Black followed since Remus and Peter were there as well.

"Where's Potter?" Lily asked curiously. A bit too curiuosly, if you ask me.

"He's got detention." I rolled my eyes. "We got in an argument with the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain on our way back to the castle. James told him to 'get his head out of his arse' because Gryffindor will be winning the next match. And then, well...he let out some more profanities just as Professor McGonagall passed by."

I heard Lily mutter something under her breath about arrogant fools. Just as she turned around to say something to Lo, someone bumped into her from behind.

"Watch where you're going, you filthy animal." It was the seventh year, Lucius Malfoy, and his Death Eater cronies: Bellatrix Black, Severus Snape, Antonin Dolohov, and Black's own brother, Regulus.

"You bumped into me!" Lily exclaimed, half indignant and half nervous.

"That's the problem with you stupid mudbloods," said Regulus. "You don't know your place."

Heat flooded my face and I could pratically feel my hair turning red, as if it were bursting into flames. Regulus turned towards his brother with a sneer on his face. They would look identical if it weren't for the fact that Regulus seemed to ooze evil from every pore of his body. However annoying and arrogant Sirius Black was, there was something _good_ about him that was missing from his brother.

"It's good you've already been disowned. Mother wouldn't be too pleased with the company you keep."

"I stopped caring about what she thinks a long time ago," Black growled. By then, I was shaking with anger. There was something going on inside me, something that snapped when Regulus had used the term 'mudblood' against Lily. And, if I was being completely honest with myself, I didn't like how Regulus was talking to his brother, especially about his family.

Regulus just laughed, giving his brother and the rest of us a disdainful sneer. "Don't worry. Soon enough, you'll have bigger problems than your blood-traitor friends. And that's a promise, _big brother_." The Slytherins strode through the entrance to the dungeons, and before I could think about my actions, I was running after them.

"Letta, what are you - " I heard Lo call after me, but I didn't stop. Anger was bubbling in my stomach and rushing through my veins. I knew if James was there, he would have jinxed those Slytherins so fast, they wouldn't even know what hit them. All for Lily. I really wished she'd realize what a good guy he was.

I raced away from my friends and into the cold, dark emptiness of the dungeons. I heard the Slytherins' footsteps down the corridor and their laughter richocheting off the stone walls. My heart was pounding in my ears; it was so loud, I didn't hear the second set of footsteps behind me.

I raised my wand as Malfoy's large blonde head came into view. "_Confringo!_" I shouted, hitting him square in the back. Malfoy's robes burst into flames and he cried out in pain. Snape had to put out the fire with his wand.

The rest of the Slytherins turned on me, but another voice bellowed, "_Waddiwasi!_" and they were all thrown backwards, one by one, as Sirius Black's wand passed over each of them.

"What are you doing?" I hissed, knocking Bellatrix back down with a curse.

"Saving your life," Black replied as he blocked a hex from Regulus. But suddenly, he was hit by three curses coming from three different directions: Snape, Malfoy and Bellatrix had all cast their own hexes at the same time. Black was thrown to the floor and smacked his head so hard on the stone, I thought my dead mother herself would hear it from her grave.

Black looked dazed, but as I went to help him up, Dolohov grabbed my arms and twisted them behind my back, pushing me against the wall.

"What's the matter, Sirius?" Regulus taunted, gazing down at Black on the ground. "Can't think straight?"

"I'm fine, thanks," said Black, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice that went undetected by the Slytherins. "Now let her go."

Regulus turned to Malfoy, as if to ask permission for something. Of course, he was probably the one in charge of their despicable group. He was the one with the most experience, after all. Malfoy nodded his head in approval.  
"And who's this? One of your many girlfriends?" Regulus turned to me, sneering nastily.

I couldn't help but snort in disgust, despite the bad situation.

"Ooh, not very friendly. Tell me, gorgeous, are you of clean blood?"

_Clean blood?_ I thought furiously. _I've never heard of something so ridiculous in my life._ Regulus was already leaning towards me, so it wasn't hard to stick my neck out and spit in his face.

"Oh, no," I said mockingly, "I'm afraid I've contaminated you with my filthy blood-traitor germs."

Regulus cursed and raised his wand. "_Cruc_ - "

He was suddenly blasted off his feet, accidentally dragging Dolohov down with him.

"Run!" Black yelled, jumping to his feet and pushing me towards the exit.

I wasn't going to leave him there alone, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him along, both of us running as fast as we could go. When we finally reached the entrance hall, we slowed down, but the Slytherins weren't following us. They probably didn't want to attract too much attention, and the entrance hall was not somewhere they could get away with dark magic. I glanced around for our friends, but they had disappeared, probably to get McGonagall.

"McKinnon, you are the stupidest person alive," said Black angrily. "What the hell was that about?"

"They called Lily a...you-know-what," I muttered lamely. I was half angry and half ashamed. To be honest, it was kind of a rush, standing up to them…fighting back. But one look at Black's face and the ashamed part of me won the battle taking place inside my head.

"That doesn't mean you had to run off and curse those - those Death Eaters in training!" he said.

"Well..." I was feeling really foolish now. How was he managing to make me feel like a child being scolded?

"I was mad, too," Black said, still looking plenty mad to me. "But it's not your place to go punishing Slytherins."

"And I suppose that's your place?" I shot back.

"It's more my place than yours. In case you haven't noticed, that's my brother down there."

For once in his life, Black was making sense. I closed my eyes and sighed. When I opened them, I finally took a good look at his face. There was blood dripping down his neck and onto the white collar of his shirt, from where he hit his head.

"You're bleeding," I told him. He ran a hand through his hair and winced. His hand came back completely red. "We better get you to the hospital wing." I took hold of his arm and led him through the entrance hall, turning down another corridor.

It amazed me how, even with his hair sticking up in all directions and matted with blood, Black still managed to look sexy. It really wasn't fair.

Madam Pomfrey made a fuss over Black's condition when we got to the hospital wing, and after I begged and pleaded, she let me stay. I don't know why I wanted to, but it just felt wrong to leave him there alone after I'd gotten him into this mess. Even Black looked surprised.

Eventually, Professor McGonagall arrived and we had to explain what happened. She disapproved of me going after the Slytherins, of course, but she didn't give me a detention or even take off any points from Gryffindor. I guess she understood why I did it.

Pretty soon it was just me and Black in the hopsital wing, with Madam Pomfrey shut up in her office. She had fixed up his head in no time; he didn't even need bandages. But Pomfrey wouldn't let him leave until he'd gotten some rest. I sat by his bed awkwardly, mulling over the incident.

"You came after me." It wasn't a question, really. More like a revelation.

Black shrugged and avoided my eyes. "I guess I knew you'd get hurt, and I didn't want that on my conscience, no matter how much I hate you."

I nodded. That made sense. I probably would have done the same thing...

Okay, I might have let him suffer a bit, but I would have gone after him eventually.

"Well," I said, even more awkwardly, "thanks, Black."

"Yeah," he said, "no problem." He smiled at me, which made me raise my eyebrows in shock. It wasn't one of his arrogant smirks or devilish grins. It wasn't even a sneer. It was a genuine smile, one that wasn't usually directed at me by anyone, especially Black.

"Does your head hurt?" I asked.

"Nope," he said, careless as ever. "Don't feel a thing."

There was a silence. I was debating whether or not I should leave and go get his friends. The rest of the Marauders would keep him company and I could go find Lily and Lo.

"So while you're here, McKinnon, talk to me," said Black.

"About what?"

"Anything. I just can't take the silence anymore."

I agreed. But what could I possibly say to my arch nemesis? "Well…what are you interested in? Besides annoying the crap out of me."

"That's definitely my favorite pastime," he said flippantly, "but I also enjoy long walks on the beach and gazing up at the stars."

I made at face him. "Clever. Really witty, you are." I sighed. "Forget it, I shouldn't have bothered." He just had to make things difficult, no matter what. Even when I was trying to be nice and get to know him…

"Motorcycles."

I looked up. "What?"

"I like motorcycles," he continued. "Always have. They're these muggle contraptions…kind of like bicycles, except with an engine and – "

"I know what they are," I interrupted. "I just…didn't know you were into them." _I'd never tried to find out_.

"You like them, then?" he asked.

"Love them. I was thinking about getting one after Hogwarts," I admitted.

"Me too!" Was it my imagination, or did Black sound enthusiastic about a conversation with the Ice Queen?

I laughed out loud. "Wouldn't it be great if there were flying motorcycles?"

"Yeah..." Black said thoughtfully. "That _would_ be great. I'm sure there's some kind of charm to do that. It'd have to be a strong one, though."

I thought about that for a minute. "You could use a hover charm, but that might be too weak. What about a levitation spell?"

"Or both," said Black. "And you could add extra devices, like a defense system."

"Are you planning on being chased, Black?" I asked, amused. What in the world would he need a defense system installed into a flying motorbike for?

"You never know, McKinnon," he grinned.

I thought for a second. "You could have a few buttons charmed to the exhaust pipe. So when you press it, the defense would shoot out at your attacker."

"Yeah, like...a brick wall!" he said excitedly.

I snorted. "A brick wall? That's stupid."

"How is that stupid?" said Black indignantly. "If a brick wall comes out of the exhaust pipe without warning, I'm pretty sure that the person chasing you would fly right into it."

"Yeah," I said sarcastically, "and while you're at it, install a button that releases a net into the air. They'll definitely get stuck in that."

"That's not a bad idea," said Black earnestly.

"I was thinking of something more along the lines of...dragon fire." I gave him a sly grin. "I like to go fast."

Black laughed. "I like the way you think, McKinnon."

Before I could reply, the Marauders, Lily and Lo rushed into the hospital wing.

"Padfoot!" said James, coming to stand beside his friend's bed. "Are you alright, mate?"

"Yeah," said Black grinning, "it's just a scratch."

"What about you, Letta?" Lily demanded, looking me over. "Are you okay?" When I nodded, she sighed in frustration. "Why did you go after them? I don't care what they call me, and neither should you! You know they were only trying to get a rise out of us. You could have been hurt!"

"Sorry?" I shrugged, which got a laugh out of my friends. Although James was still muttering about how he wished he had been there.

"Excuse me," said a voice from the doorway. Professor McGonagall entered the room. "Professor Dumledore would like a word with the two of you." She pointed at me and then at Black. "Are you feeling up to it, Mr. Black?"

I looked at him, my eyebrows furrowed. He looked just as confused. "Yeah," he said, sitting up. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, swaying a little. Remus reached out to steady him, but I beat him to it. I surprised even myself when I took hold of Black's arm.

"Uh, right," I said, clearing my throat and dropping his arm. "Let's go."

We followed McGonagall out of the infirmary and into the corridor. Since we were already on the first floor, she led us past many tapestries and suits of armor before we reached a statue of a large stone gargoyle.

"Cockroach Clusters," said McGonagall. I thought she'd gone loopy before I realized that this was the password. The statue revealed a staircase that was behind it, escalading slowly upward. We all hopped on a step and rode to the top. I had never been to Dumbledore's office before, but Black most likely had.

Professor McGonagall rapped on the wide oak doors with a brass knocker in the shape of some kind of bird.

"Enter," said a voice from within.

The doors opened and I gazed curiously around Professor Dumbledore's office as I stepped inside.

There were many whirring instruments around the room, as well as a spacious desk with parchment on it and a large cabinet that was halfway open. Judging by the silver-blue glow from within, it held a Pensieve. I only knew what a Pensieve was because my mother's friend got her one after my dad died; she'd had a lot of thoughts that needed sorting out. There was also a large bird sitting on a perch next to the desk. It had beautiful red and gold feathers, and it was whistling an angelic song.

"Ah, good afternoon Miss McKinnon, and you, Mr. Black." Professor Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, with his glasses perched on his rather large nose. He looked over at us with those piercing blue eyes. Professor McGonagall left the room and closed the doors behind her with a heavy _thud_.

"Hello, Professor," Black grinned. He was obviously comfortable here, but there was a trace of respect in his voice that I wasn't accustomed to hearing.

"Hello, sir," I said.

"Come in and sit down," Dumbledore said, gesturing at – well, nothing. "Oh, I'm terribly sorry. One moment, please." He took out his wand and conjured up two squashy red chairs in front of his desk. "Now you may sit down." He smiled.

I walked over and collapsed in the chair next to Black. There was a silence. "Professor, I swear we weren't dueling," I blurted out. "We weren't fighting at all!"

Dumbledore chuckled, and Black joined in. I shot him a dirty look. "Miss McKinnon, don't worry. You are not in trouble. I would just like to speak to you both about a serious matter." We waited for him to go on. "Have you heard about what has been going on with the students in different Houses?" he asked.

"No, sir," said Black. I shook my head.

"There have been strange disappearances of many students, most of them muggle-born. They always turn up a few days later in fortuitous places around the castle. Just this morning a young second year, Harriett Wilson, was found unconscious atop the Astronomy Tower. She has no memory of how she got there." Dumbledore paused and pressed his fingertips together. "You know that these are dangerous times. I am not pointing out anyone in particular, but there are certain Slytherins at Hogwarts that wish to cause harm to other students, as you both found out today." He gestured towards Black's head.

Black and I nodded, trying to determine what Dumbledore was getting at.

"It is up to you, of course," he said, "but I'd like it if you two would patrol the corridor near the dungeons three times a week. I have informed the Prefects of the situation and they are on the lookout for strange behavior. Of course, they are needed on the upper floors to make sure no one is out of bed. If students are roaming the corridors after curfew, they are making themselves highly vulnerable. The Prefects are tremendously helpful, but I would prefer if there were people guarding the dungeons so it wouldn't get that far.

"It would look suspicious if you were seen there too often, so the days will be chosen at random. Sometimes you might have to keep watch over the enrance to the dungeons, and sometimes you will be positioned outside the Slytherin common room. Some nights you will have to be invisible or concealed in some other way, but other nights you will not."

I stared at the Professor, my brain working in overdrive. _Why? Why did he want us to do this? Why me? Why Black?_

"If you choose to accept this task, I trust you know that these students can be dangerous. But I believe you both can handle it." He stopped talking and looked at us expectantly. Waiting for our answers.

"I'll do it," said Black immediately. Professor Dumbledore nodded, as if he knew what Black's answer would be before he said it out loud. Then he turned to me. I felt Black's eyes on me as well.

"Yes," I said, "I'll do it." It would be fun to meet some Slytherins in the dead of the night and not get in trouble for hexing them.

"Alright," said Dumbledore. "Thank you both. I will send someone with a message when I need you. That is all."

Black and I got up from our chairs and headed towards the door. I stopped in the middle of the office, causing Black to bump into be from behind. When I turned around, he gave me a look, but I ignored him and concentrated on Professor Dumbledore.

"Professor," I said hesitantly, waiting for him to look up. "Why did you pick us? You could have asked anyone else in the school."

Dumbledore smiled kindly at me. "You are two of the bravest Gryffindors I have seen in a long time. And, despite your differences, I know you two can handle these dangerous times with clear minds and strong hearts."

I thought about that for a moment. Was I brave? Impulsive, yes, and hot-headed definitely. But those traits weren't always the best to have when dealing with difficult situations. Bravery was a virtue that I didn't quite deserve.

But all the same, I thanked the professor and left his office with Black at my side.

**XxXxXxXxX**

**Okay, so I know the motorcycle thing was a little random; and I also know that Mr. Weasley was the one who installed all those defense systems on the new motorbike in Deathly Hallows. But for the sake of their conversation, let's just pretend it was Sirius and Letta who thought of it. Also, the chapters will get longer as the story continues!**


	8. Mysterious

The first patrol with Black was...interesting, to say the least. I met him in the entrance hall at around midnight and we walked to our stations in silence. We'd had another argument earlier in the day and I was determined not to talk to him, or even look at him, any more than necessary. But that got old pretty fast. It turns out, guarding the dungeons was b-o-r-i-n-g.

"So..." I said to Black, a bit sheepishly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you speaking to _me_?" He smirked wickedly.

"Well, no, not really," I lied. "I was just...thinking out loud, and you happen to be sitting next to me." We were both leaning against the stone wall that branched off from the opening of the dungeon entrance.

"I see," said Black, rolling his eyes. "Admit it, you stubborn troll, you want to talk to me."

"Did you just call me a troll?" I said with mock anger.

He shook his head quickly. "Forgive me, did I say troll? I meant to say fairy. Yeah, a sweet, innocent little fairy."

I made a face. "I'd rather be a troll. It's better to be scary than helpless. Fear is a powerful emotion, my friend."

He snorted. "You? You're not scary."

I raised my eyebrows at him. "Oh, really?"

"Okay," he sighed, "you're a little scary." I laughed at him and stood up, going to check the dungeon's corridor again.

"Still nothing," I said with a yawn. I heard Black's stomach grumble from where I stood. "Hungry?"

"Starved," he said, putting a hand over his belly.

"Typical." I shook my head.

"You know, the kitchens are right around here..." His voice trailed off hopefully.

"Really?" I said curiously. Some nights, when I was thinking too much or I couldn't sleep, all I needed was a midnight snack. It would be useful to know where the kitchens were.

"Yeah," he said cheerfully. He stood up. "Come on, I'll show you."

I followed him around a corner or two and came face to face with...a dead end. There was a painting on the wall of a bowl of fruit.

"Now we just tickle the pear right...here." Black stroked the painting lightly and the pear let out a high pitched giggle. The painting swung open and we climbed through the opening and into the kitchen.

House elves immediately swarmed around us, offering plates of food and trying to take our orders.

"Good evening, Mr. Black," said a tiny female elf. _He must come here a lot_, I thought to myself.

"Hello, Misty." Black smiled fondly at the house elf.

"What can Misty get for you?" she squeaked.

Black looked at me. "Can you please get me some pudding?" I said without hesitation. The elf nodded. "Thank you," I said as she scurried away.

"Pudding?" asked Black. He pulled out a chair and sat down at a large table pushed to the side of the room. House elves were darting about and pretty soon, Misty came back with some chocolate pudding.

"What? I like pudding," I said as I dug in.

We sat in silence for a few moments before Black grabbed a spoon that was lying on the table and helped himself to some of _my_ pudding.

"This is a Marauder secret, you know," he said before I could protest. "You can't tell anyone about it, especially the guys. I'll never hear the end of it if they find out I took you here. It's against the Marauder's code."

"The Marauder's code?" I laughed. "What's that?"

"Just a set of rules we have. You can't know about them unless you're a Marauder." He smirked. "Incidentally, one of them involves not sharing any of the Marauders' secrets with anyone, unless you have permission from the entire group."

"And you guys take this whole 'Marauder's code' seriously?"

"Of course," he said. "We wrote it back in first year. It was the basis of our friendship back then, and their friendship means everything to me." He was solemn now.

I nodded. "They're your family."

"Exactly. But anyway, we know loads about the castle. No one does as much exploring as we do," he said proudly. He'd went from somber and complex, to bright and enthusiastic in an instant. His change in moods was always so disconcerting.

"I don't doubt that," I said, amused. "So how's Remus? Lo's been worrying about him. We all are. He looks really ill."

"He's okay." Black shrugged.

I looked at him suspiciously. "Another Marauder secret?"  
Black grinned. "Nah, it's not a secret. He's just having a hard time 'cause his mum's sick. He goes to see her once every month."

"Oh," I said. "I didn't know that." I'd have to tell Lo later.

"Well, now you know." He continued to shovel pudding into his mouth at an alarming rate.

"Honestly, you act like you haven't eaten in days," I commented.

"I'm a growing boy, McKinnon," he said cheerfully, raising his spoon in the air. I rolled my eyes for the thousandth time that night.

"Aren't we supposed to be doing patrol duty?" I pressed, worried about the potentially dangerous Slytherins going by unnoticed while we were stuffing our faces in the kitchen.

"We were out there for hours and didn't see a thing. I'm sure Dumbledore won't mind if we take a little break," said Black, grinning.

I bit my lip. "Still..."

"I knew it!" he crowed. "I knew you weren't as rebellious as people think you are."

"What?" I yelped, firing up at once. "For your information, Black, I am every bit as rebellious as you are. But Dumbledore gave us a job to do, and it is not to be sitting here eating pudding."

"As I recall, you didn't exactly say no to coming here, did you?" Black said smugly.

"Whatever," I mumbled, resisting the urge to punch him in the face. The night had been going fairly well, all things considered, and I didn't want Dumbledore to be disappointed in us. I could handle a few hours alone with Black, no problem. I suddenly remembered something I'd been wanting to ask him.

"Hey, have you noticed anything strange about our so-called friends?"

Black thought for a moment, actually putting down his spoon in the process. "Yeah," he said slowly, "I have, actually."

Lately the boys, Lily and Lo had been pretty secretive. They were getting together when Black and I weren't there, discussing Merlin-knows-what. Whenever one of us went over to them, they shut up and acted all chipper.

"I wonder what it's all about," I said thoughtfully. I was amazed that Lily was being civil towards James, much less trying to hide something from me.

"Yeah, it's getting a bit odd," said Black. "At first the guys were just blowing it off as if it were nothing. But now, they keep looking at me and grinning in this creepy way. It's...frightening."

"It's the same with Lily and Lo, except they keep bringing up Hogsmeade. There's a trip in a couple of weeks and Lo has been pushing Lily to go with James." I paused, trying to remember what Lily said to me yesterday. "When Lo brought it up, Lily said something odd like 'I'll only go with James on one condition.'"

Black just shrugged, useless as always. "I dunno, McKinnon. Maybe they're trying to set you up on a date with someone." He snorted with laughter at the very thought.

"No, they – " My blood suddenly turned to ice inside my veins. _Were_ my friends trying to set me up with someone? Were they trying to set me up with..._Black?_ No, they wouldn't try that, they knew we hated each other...

"What's wrong?" asked Black, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Nothing," I said blankly. "We should get back to the corridor and finish our patrol."

**XxXxXxXxXxXxX**

"Oh, Lilykins!" I called out, coming down the stairs to the girls' dormitory the next morning. Lily was sitting on the couch with Lo and the Marauders, minus Black. He was probably still sleeping, the great lump.

"Hey, Letta!" she said brightly, standing up quickly and smiling. Lo coughed and pushed her hair away from her face, looking up timidly. She knew that I knew that they knew something. If that even makes sense.

"Morning, Letta," said Remus, grinning that creepy grin that Black had been talking about the night before.

"How was – " I held my hand up to cut James off.

"Enough with the chit-chat," I said brusquely. "I need to have a word with these two." I jerked my thumb and Lily and Lo, who looked a bit frightened now.

They followed me across the common room into a tiny aclove. The three Marauders looked over at us nervously.

"What do you think you're doing?" I hissed, turning to face them and putting my hands on my hips. "Why won't you tell me what's going on?"

"Letta, we don't know what you're – " Lily started, but Lo cut her off.

"Oh, give it up, Lils. She knows." Lo sighed. "What did you hear?"

"Nothing, really," I said, calmly now. I knew Lily and Lo would never intentionally hurt me or try to piss me off. "Black and I were talking last night on patrol duty, and we both noticed that you were all acting strange. He says that they keep grinning at him like nutters and you two keep bringing up Hogsmeade." I narrowed my eyes. "Plus, whenever we come into the room, you lot stop talking and act all happy. _Too_ happy."

"Well..." Lo trailed off, laughing nervously. "Here's the thing: James asked Lily to Hogsmeade and she said no, of course." She paused so we could both roll our eyes at the redhead standing next to us. "Anyway, Lily came up with a bright idea. And by bright, I mean really dumb."

I looked over at Lily. "And?"

Lily sighed. "Well...I told James that I would only go to Hogsmeade with him if you and Sirius went together. I gave him my word. I knew you two wouldn't want to go, so...I thought it was the perfect way to get out of a date with Potter."

"It kind of backfired though, didn't it?" I said thoughtfully, working it out for myself. "Since you said that to James, he's convinced Remus and Peter to help him out. And he thinks he can get Black to go along with it, since they're best mates and James has been after you since first year."

"Yeah," said Lo sheepishly. "Now all we had to figure out was how to convince you because...well, you're the most stubborn person alive. We knew you wouldn't want to do it. In all fairness, Lily did try to stop us."

"Only because she doesn't want to go on a date with James," I pointed out. "So why did you do it, Lo?" I wasn't really mad anymore. I could never stay mad at my friends for long. Now I was simply curious.

I think Lo noticed that because she loosened up a bit. "Well, Remus and I had a talk..."

"You had a talk, huh?" I grinned. "I'm sure your tongues got quite the workout from all that _talking_." Lo blushed prettily. I looked at her, one of my best friends. I knew she wouldn't ever try to hurt me but...would she lie if she thought she was doing the right thing? Lo _was_ a better liar than Lily...was there something I was missing? Something she wasn't telling me?

Lo shifted under my searching gaze, turning her face away. She seemed to be hiding something…but I trusted Lo, didn't I? _Of course you do,_ I thought to myself angrily. _She's your best friend. If you can't trust her, you can't trust anyone._

"So...will you do it, Letta?" Lily asked cautiously. "You know I think you shouldn't, but it's up to you of course." She hesitated, then gave up with trying to be nice about it and got straight to the begging. "Please," she said, getting on her knees and hugging my legs. "Please, please, _please_ don't make me go to Hogsmeade with him! I'll do anything, Letta, anything!"

"Gravelling doesn't suit you, Lily-pad," said James as he strutted over to us, followed by the rest of the group. Black had gotten out of bed at some point during our discussion and by the expression on his disgruntled face, it looked like the rest of the Marauders told him what was going on.

"You better not try anything funny on this Hogsmeade trip," he grumbled at me.

My eyebrows went up in surprise. "You agreed?"

"Prongs sucked me into it," he said, still grumbling. "Why, you didn't?"

"No...I wanted to think about it," I admitted. After all, I wasn't just going to run around Hogsmeade with Black for no good reason. Then again, we've all been waiting for Lily and James to get together since second year, so that was a pretty good incentive.

"Letta." James grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the group. The others looked at us curiously, but they were out of earshot before James began. "Letta," he said again, "please. Please do this for me. This may be my only shot to show Lily who I really am. I need this shot. Don't you think everyone deserves a chance?"

I was taken by surprise again, for the second time that morning. Merlin, I hadn't even had breakfast yet and they were dumping all of this mushy stuff on me.

"I'm not really that bad, am I?" James asked quietly.

"No, James," I said truthfully, "you're not."

"Well then do me this one favor. I know you won't believe me, but Sirius isn't that bad either." I snorted, and James laughed. "I'll try to convince him to be on his best behavior. C'mon, Letta. Let me show Lily who I can be."

I sighed and led James back to our friends. I looked around, pausing – for dramatic effect, of course. "Okay," I said, looking Black straight in the eyes. "I'll do it."

**XxXxXxXxXxX**

It was about a week before the Hogsmeade trip when Lily, Willow and I were sitting in the common room, catching up on some homework we had been neglecting. The fire was crackling merrily and all that could be heard was our quills scratching upon parchment. Until –

"Prongs, if you say Lily's name one more time, I'll murder you myself."

"Sorry, mate. C'mon, Wormtail, hurry up! We're already late."

Black, James and Peter came bounding down the boys' staricase. James was carrying some kind of cloak, and they were talking in hushed tones.

"Hello, boys," I said loudly, making them jump.

"Oh, hey, Letta," said James, glancing nervously at Lily. He obviously didn't want to screw up his chance at a Hogsmeade trip with the girl of his dreams.

But right off the bat, Lily asked a question that James didn't want to answer. His face said it all. "Where are you going?"

"Uh..." James just stood there, looking at his friends for help. "Well, Lily, we're, uh – "

"Going to the kitchens," said Black smoothly. "What's it to you?"

"I'm Head Girl," Lily reminded him. "And _you're_ HeadBoy, Potter! It's my job to know where you're going. And it's _both_ of our jobs to behave responsibly, especially since it's after curfew."

"What?" yelped Peter, staring wide-eyed at Lily. "You can't stop us, not tonight!"

"Lily," said James in a low voice, completely serious now. "We have to do this. It's not a prank, I promise. But you can't stop us. Please." Lily looked confused and slightly startled by his intense gaze.

"How about this, Lils," I said casually. "You give them a lecture on why they shouldn't be out after curfew. Then, me, you and Lo will go upstairs and pretend we never saw these troublemakers. If they choose to go out, it's their problem. You warned them."

Lily still looked unsure. "Come on." I grabbed her arm and yanked her off the couch. "You boys should be ashamed of yoursleves!" I said in dramatic Lily fashion. "How dare you break the rules! I'm warning you, if you go out after curfew, you'll get caught." Then I smiled at the three Marauders, who were now all grinning in relief. "Goodnight, boys."

Lo and I dragged Lily up to the girls' dormitory and we all changed out of our school clothes.

"Hey," said Lily suddenly, "where was Remus? He wasn't in the common room with the other three."

"Oh, he went to visit his sick mum for a few days," Lo answered, climbing into bed. "He looked really worried. I was afraid he was catching something himself. He was all pale and clammy..."

I gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm sure he'll be back and feeling better in no time," I told her, going over to the window and looking out at the grounds.

Only half of my mind was on the conversation with my friends. The other half was wondering where those boys could have gone. I didn't believe for one second that Black was telling the truth; kitchens my arse! Something was going on with them, something big. I could see it in James's face when he begged Lily not to stop them. Yeah, something was going on, alright. But what?

"Hey," I said slowly, turning back to my friends, "do you ever wonder where the Marauders go when they sneak out at night?"

"Sometimes," Lily admitted. "If someone sees them, they just make up some pathetic excuse and say they're off to the kitchens or something. But I don't buy that rubbish." Lo nodded enthusiastically.

Then, a thought struck me. "Let's follow them."

"_What?_" screeched Lily.

Lo just looked at me. "Letta, if they're sneaking out they'll definitely be under James's invisibility cloak."

"Well they can't have gotten far," I pleaded, only thinking this through halfway. "If they're under the cloak it'll take them forever to get wherever they're going." It was true; those boys were huge, they wouldn't all fit under the cloak unless they moved carefully.

"Well..." Lo's voice trailed off thoughtfully. I grinned. She was actually considering it. "We'll have to hurry," she said finally, her eyes burning with curiosity. She wanted to know where they were going just as much as I did.

But Lily had put her foot down, literally. "Absolutely not," she said, horrified. "I refuse to let you two sneak out after curfew. We don't have one of those fancy invisibility cloaks; we'll get caught for sure."

"Come on, Lils," I said, biting my lip. If we didn't hurry, we'd never be able to find them.

"No," said Lily adamantly. "I'm _Head Girl_, for Merlin's sake!"

"Fine," said Lo, winking at me. "We'll go by ourselves. You can stay here, Lily. We'll see you when we get back."

I nodded and followed Lo down the dormitory staircase and into the common room. The last few embers of the fire were just dying out as we reached the portrait hole.

"Wait!"

Lo and I looked around, spotting Lily as she hurried from the dorm. "Changed your mind?" I grinned.

"Shut up," she grumbled. "If we get caught, I'm blaming this entire thing on you, Letta."

"What else is new?" I sighed. I led my friends out of the common room and into the cold, dimly lit corridor.

We were finally going to find out where the Marauders mysteriously disappeared to.


End file.
